Temporal and spatial effects of a ‘Shan Shui’ landscape on housing price: A case study of Chongqing, China

Abstract

A residential environment with a ‘Shan Shui’ landscape (river and mountain landscapes) not only has high aesthetic value but also indicates good fortune in traditional Chinese geomantic omen theory. As determined at the 19th National Congress, the national strategic goal of China is to achieve green development and ecological construction for urbanization. To comprehensively recognize the economic value of a ‘Shan Shui’ landscape is a win-win solution for real estate developers, as well as for the sustainable urbanization of China. Most of the literature related to the amenity value of urban landscapes has focused on the value of individual landscapes while ignoring the interactions between landscapes, leading to controversy around the amenity value of the landscape as determined in different empirical case studies. This study takes the ‘city of Shan Shui’, Chongqing, as the case study to explore the interactions of river and mountain landscapes and the temporal and spatial variances in the value of ‘Shan Shui’.The findings suggest that access to the ‘Shan Shui’ landscapes of neighboring houses would increase the price of a house by 15.01%, which is much higher than the values for a river or mountain landscape independently, since the place where mountains and rivers meet is a blessing in Chinese geomantic omen theory, and the interactions between landscapes will create a new symbol containing greater value. In addition, ‘Shan Shui’ landscapes are more valued in the market boom because they are perceived to represent luxury, and the value of ‘Shan Shui’ has spatial spillover effects. The findings contribute to the broader discussion about the valuation of interactions among urban landscapes, and recommendations are made to the local government and for further sustainable urbanization in urban China.