Housing Supply under Rapid Economic Growth and Varying Regulatory Stringency: An International Comparison

We present results of an empirical investigation and comparison of housing supply in three rapidly growing countries: Malaysia, Thailand, and Korea. These countries offer three contrasting examples of different approaches to development control. Korea has relatively strict control of housing supply. Thailand has little effective regulation of development. Malaysia offers an intermediate case, having adopted in the mid-1970s development control legislation patterned on the British Town and Country Planning Act. The consequences of this regulatory shift for aggregate housing supply appear to have been substantial.