Housing price appreciation and economic integration in a transition economy: Evidence from Kazakhstan

•We analyze a data set of houses/apartments prices for Kazakhstan, categorized by regions, type, size, and neighborhood between 2003 and 2013.•We find a significant common national component in real appreciation rates in different housing categories with little regional discrepancy.•There is regional differentiation in appreciation rates in the short run and during the boom (pre-crisis 2007) period.•We observe growth throughout leading and lagging cities, high-income and modest-income neighborhoods, and in modern and Soviet-era housing.•This pattern is at odds with the perception that growth in housing wealth is concentrated, in upper middle-income resource-based economies. This paper explores patterns of real estate price movements in an emerging upper-middle income economy, Kazakhstan. The country experienced an explosive, 11-fold increase in real housing prices in urban areas between 2000 and 2007, followed by a sharp decline and stabilization. This paper traces the movements across different regions, types of housing, unit size categories, and neighborhood types. We find that prices moved together closely, implying a linked, if not unified housing market, along with wealth effects that were felt broadly throughout the urban economy.