An Agent-Based Model of the English Housing Market

Markets for domestic housing in countries like England differ from other markets because the stock is fixed in the short term, buyers need to raise mortgages to finance their purchases and prices tend to be set through intermediaries ('estate agents' or realtors). We introduce an agent-based model in which some of the main features of the English market emerge from interactions between buyers, realtors and sellers and use this model to investigate shocks to the market.