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Measuring the interwar housing boom: House prices and rents in England, 1913–39

Antoninus M Samy

The Economic History Review: a journal of economic and social history2026https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.70088article
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Existing statistics about England's interwar housing market are sparse and based on outdated sources and methods. This article seeks to improve upon them by drawing on mortgage data from a major London‐based building society and using the hedonic method of price index measurement to construct house price and rent indices for residential houses that are robust to intertemporal sampling differences. It is found that house prices and rents in England both rose significantly between 1919 and 1926 but moderated thereafter and declined throughout the 1930s housing boom. Further evidence indicates that there was excess supply in the housing market during the boom, driven by cheap money and a deliberate strategy by building societies of ‘making the market’ by fuelling private house construction.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.70088

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@article{antoninus2026,
  title        = {{Measuring the interwar housing boom: House prices and rents in England, 1913–39}},
  author       = {Antoninus M Samy},
  journal      = {The Economic History Review: a journal of economic and social history},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.70088},
}

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Measuring the interwar housing boom: House prices and rents in England, 1913–39

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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