Multiple Machine Learning Models in House Price Prediction: Performance Evaluation and Comparison

Abstract

House pricing is one of the most critical concerns for people. Accurately predicting house prices is essential for participants and investors in the real estate market. This study delves into the realm of predictive modeling for house prices using a multimodal approach in machine learning. The research methodology spans various stages including data collection, preprocessing, feature engineering, and model selection. Based on a dataset sourced from Kaggle, housing data from Iowa comprising 79 pertinent features influencing property prices is utilized. Performance evaluation is conducted using the root mean square error (RMSE), comparing the efficacy of linear regression models such as Lasso regression, Kernel Ridge regression, and ElasticNet regression against tree-based models including XGBoost, Gradient Boosting, and LightGBM. Additionally, the study implements two stacked ensemble models to identify the most optimal predictive model for house prices. Experimental procedures involve training and evaluating these models on specific datasets to gauge their predictive accuracy. Findings and discussions underscore the comparative analysis of diverse machine learning models within the context of house price prediction. Moreover, the study employs the Gradient Boosting method in machine learning to pinpoint the ten most influential features impacting house prices. Recommendations for future research are provided to enhance the precision and robustness of house price prediction models. This research contributes to the advancement of predictive modeling in the real estate domain, offering insights into the efficacy of various machine learning techniques for forecasting property prices.