Socio-Economic Disaster Recovery Captured by Big Housing Market Data

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to examine the possibility of using big data in housing market as one of socio-economic recovery indicators. Disaster recovery is a complex process and should be captured via multiple angles. Here, we explore the possibility of using online big data in real estate to detect one of socio-economic recovery activities. This study focuses on big data because its characteristics, such as timeliness, have the feasibility of complementing the traditional socio-economic recovery indicators, such as official statistics and questionnaire surveys, which are not published in a real-time way. By investigating a case of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, the results of this study indicate that there was an excess demand for houses located near the most tsunami-damaged zones since several months after the tsunami. Because housing is one of the key factors for disaster-affected people's life recovery, the analysis gives evidence to support that the big data in housing market have the possibility of being used as a proxy of one of the socio-economic recovery. The results of this paper would be insightful for both academicians and practitioners in disaster-related fields to recognize and gauge disaster-affected community's recovery situations in a timely manner.