Factors determining regional housing prices: evidence from major cities in India

Abstract

Using quarterly data (2010Q1–2013Q4), the study makes an initial attempt to explain the housing prices for 15 major cities of different regions in India. The overall result demonstrates that there is a dominance of fundamental factors over the non-fundamental factor (speculative factors) in explaining the regional housing prices. Further, among the fundamental factors, it is observed that the share price index, non-food bank credit and foreign direct investment positively explain the housing prices, while inflation rate and a partial measure of wealth (i.e. market capitalisation) negatively explain the same. The price of gold, real effective exchange rate and net portfolio investments don’t have any influence on the housing prices. This could to some extent signify a lack of market integration among various asset markets in the Indian situation. This might also be the reason for the lesser role of speculative factors in the Indian housing market.