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BIMSA Digital Economy Lab Seminar
Tenant Preferences and Rent-Setting: Evidence from a Stated Choice Experiment in Sweden
Tenant Preferences and Rent-Setting: Evidence from a Stated Choice Experiment in Sweden
Speaker
Time
Friday, October 31, 2025 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Venue
A3-2-303
Online
Zoom 435 529 7909
(BIMSA)
Abstract
This paper investigates how tenants in Sweden’s regulated rental market value different housing attributes, with a particular focus on location, neighborhood composition, and housing quality, using a stated choice experiment. Our results reveal that tenants assign value to location-related factors, with steep distance gradients in the average willingness to pay. We also find that preferences for cultural and educational homogeneity are significant, but that safety concerns in heterogeneous neighborhoods can partially offset these preferences. These findings suggest that the prevailing user value system in Sweden does not fully capture the diversity of tenant preferences, leading to inefficiencies and potential welfare losses. The study contributes to the broader policy debate by providing evidence on tenant valuations and offering practical insights for the design of more equitable and effective rent regulation. We argue that incorporating empirically grounded, preference-based metrics into rent-setting could enhance allocative efficiency and match quality, while maintaining the core principles of Sweden’s regulatory approach.