Evidence of the ripple effect across the Czech housing market

Czech regional housing markets have exhibited significant price co-movements over the last two decades. While part of this dynamic may be explained by traditional housing market fundamentals, some regions appear to be influenced by other variables. One possible explanation lies in the ripple effect, a phenomenon where house price shocks in one region influence prices in others. This study examines possible occurrence of the ripple effect using Toda-Yamamoto Granger causality. Results indicate statistically significant occurrence of lead-lag effect in eight out of 13 regions. Such price interconnectivity might be important factor for policymakers as study suggests that regional submarkets are not isolated and should be approached on macro level.