Housing Prices In Cities Research Articles

Can low-carbon cities increase urban housing prices? Evidence from China's low-carbon city pilot.

The low-carbon transformation is a broad and profound systemic change that will inevitably impact many areas of the urban environment, economy, and social system. We evaluated the impact of China's ongoing "low-carbon pilot policy" on urban housing prices as a "quasi-natural experiment." Existing research findings and hedonic theory predictions suggest that the low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy is increasing urban housing prices through air quality improvements. However, this study contradicts these speculations based on the situation in China. This study employed the analytical framework of staggered difference-in-differences (DID), which revealed that the LCCP policy had generally reduced housing prices; the implementation of the policy had led to an average decrease of 6.2% in housing prices in pilot cities, compared to non-pilot cities. The LCCP policy affected housing prices by influencing both the "demand side" and "supply side" of housing. In terms of the demand side, the policy significantly reduced the level of urban air pollution but did not impact housing prices. Instead, it negatively affected housing prices by lowering labor wages. In terms of the supply side, housing prices were negatively affected, mainly by increasing the cost of emission reduction of real estate enterprises, which impacted the original longstanding housing production process. Additionally, there were significant differences in the impact of the LCCP policy on housing prices in cities across different geographical locations and different tiers of cities. This study suggests important policy insights for achieving stable market housing prices and promoting high-quality urban development in the process of low-carbon transformation.

An Empirical Analysis on The Knowledge Spillovers and Housing Price in Yangtze River Delta Region

The Yangtze River Delta region is one of the economic centers in China and also a hub for innovation activities in the country. The knowledge spillover in the Yangtze River Delta region is not only significant for the region itself but also for the entire nation. At the same time, the high housing prices in the Yangtze River Delta region may have an impact on the knowledge spillover within the region. This study examines the influence of housing prices on knowledge spillover in the major cities of the Yangtze River Delta region based on data from 2001 to 2019. The findings reveal that high housing prices in cities generally have a significant negative effect on knowledge spillover. The magnitude of this effect varies across different measures of knowledge spillover.

Spatial–Temporal Variation and Influencing Factors on Housing Prices of Resource-Based City: A Case Study of Xuzhou, China

The steady development of the real estate market is an important link in the transformation of resource-based cities. Taking the main urban area of Xuzhou, a typical resource-based city in China, as an example, this study used a spatial–temporal geographically weighted regression (GTWR) method guided by characteristic price theory to analyze the evolution of the spatial–temporal pattern of house prices in resource-based cities and the influencing factors. The results of the study showed that, from the time trend, Xuzhou’s main city house price trend underwent the obvious stages; from June 2015 to September 2016, the trend was stable, and from March 2017 to June 2018, it was an “up–down–up” trend. With respect to the spatial distribution of house prices, from June 2015 to June 2017, the traditional business district and the major city in the Xuzhou metropolitan area were the areas of highest house prices, and after September 2017, the structural features of the traditional business district, along with the main city of the metropolitan area and the new city, formed the areas of highest importance. With regard to the factors influencing house prices, the type of dwelling, according to the building characteristics, had the largest impact on house prices, and the enrichment of housing types became an effective way to regulate housing prices. The impact of location characteristics on house prices varied depending on differences in the public infrastructure surrounding housing, with the contribution of the planned metro stations to house prices not effectively emerging. The impact of neighborhood characteristics on house prices varied, with tertiary care hospitals having a ‘neighborhood avoidance effect’ on house prices, given that hospital-generated waste was too densely distributed around houses, suppressing neighborhood house prices. The results of this study indicated that, in the process of real estate market development in resource-based cities, the planning department should consider the different functions and division of labor in each region and scientifically formulate urban development plans to provide a good external environment for the healthy development of the city’s property market.

Analysis of the Effect of Infrastructure Development on Land Prices in Cinere and Beji Districts, Depok City

The surge in housing prices in cities has triggered the emergence of many problems related to urban settlements, starting from the construction of housing that is far from the city center, congestion problems, pollution, to encouraging the occurrence of many informal slum settlements. This causes a shift in settlements to supporting areas, especially Jabodetabek. Residential prices are dominantly influenced by high land prices. Infrastructure development has a major influence on economic growth and the development of an urban area. However, this is not easy to apply in the Depok City area, especially in the Cinere and Beji District areas. Housing development is very rapid but must be followed by the development of facilities and infrastructure. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of infrastructure development factors such as road network (accessibility), availability of facilities (transportation network, electricity network, telephone network, clean water network, educational facilities, health facilities) and residential neighborhoods based on the opinions of housing residents on land prices in residential neighborhoods in Depok City, especially in Cinere Dan Beji Districts. The research method used is research using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods in stages considering the complexity of the problem. Quantitative methods will be used to look at housing-related data as a basis, then to NJOP analysis as a basis for land prices. The results of this study indicate that in general, the data analysis shows compatibility with the literature that has been done, that land prices are very significantly influenced by the accessibility of the main highway network and the presence of commercial equipment to fulfill needs.

Do high housing prices crowd out young professionals?—Micro-evidence from China

Motivated by the growing trend of young professionals flowing out of high-profile cities in China, this study examines whether high housing prices have a crowding-out effect on young professionals across 235 Chinese cities. Using a conditional logit model with multiple control variables related to the economy, the social environment, and city location, the results showed an inverted U-shaped relationship between a city’s house prices and young professionals’ potential migration into the city. We also performed a series of robustness checks and categorised the sample by gender, academic qualification, and marital status. The results indicated the same inverted U-shaped relationship, but with different extreme points for house prices across the sub-samples. The findings offer suggestions for Chinese local governments to attract young professionals by regulating housing prices in cities where prices surpass the extreme point.

The relationship amid land finance and economic growth with the mediating role of housing prices in China.

Taking cities at prefecture-level and above in China as the research object, we theoretically analyze the effects of land finance on housing prices and economic growth as well as the effects of housing prices on economic growth, consider the mediating role of housing prices, and construct a random-effects model of land finance affecting economic growth. It is of great significance to make rational use of land finance to promote the economic development and formulate the “city specific policies” plan for the real estate market. The 278 resource-based cities with relatively well-developed land and real estate markets in China are selected to test the mediating effect of housing prices on land finance affecting economic growth in resource-based cities by type based on panel data from 2011–2019. The results show that (1) land finance significantly and positively affects economic growth and housing prices in cities at the prefecture-level and above nationwide, but there is some variability in the degree of influence. The central region has the smallest impact on economic growth but the largest impact on housing prices; the eastern region has the deepest impact on economic growth; and the western region has the smallest impact on housing prices. (2) In the national sample cities and cities in the northeast region, housing prices have a significant partial mediating effect at the 1% level on economic growth affected by land finance, accounting for 22.03 and 2.84%, respectively. The mediating effect of urban housing prices on land finance affects economic growth in the eastern, central, and western regions is not significant.

THE 2008 ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN AND HOUSING PRICE: THE ROLE OF SOES

How does China’s 2008 economic stimulus plan affect housing price through the channel of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)? Utilizing a sample of 206 Chinese cities and a different-in-difference approach, we show that the housing prices in cities with a higher prevalence of SOEs, tend to grow disproportionately faster than that in cities with lower prevalence of SOEs after the shock of 2008 China’s stimulus plan. The heterogeneity tests show that the SOE channel plays a more important role in cities with more city investment bonds, less financial development and lower level of marketization. Our conclusion is robust across a battery of sensitivity tests.

Assessing the Viability of Vacant Farmhouse Market in China: A Case Study in Sichuan

Massive and rapid urbanization has led to population loss in rural areas, particularly in emerging and developing countries like China. As a result, houses in rural areas become vacant, and the house prices in cities, at the same time, skyrocket. While the research on the vacant farmhouses market (VFM) is a pressing issue for sustainable urbanization and has profound policy implications in China, few empirical studies have been conducted on analyzing the willingness of house owners and urban residents to participate in the VFM and any influencing factors—as there is no such operating market in China. To bridge the research gap, we first conducted a questionnaire-based survey on rural households and urban residents with a random sampling method in six cities in Sichuan Province, China. A total of 571 valid samples, including 284 rural households and 287 urban residents, were obtained. Based on these survey data, we then used logistic regression to estimate the influencing factors on the willingness of house owners and urban residents in renting in/out or selling/buying vacant farmhouses. The results showed that: (1) more than 60% of rural house owners and urban residents are willing to participate in a potential VFM; (2) the main influencing factors of house owners’ willingness to rent out or sell their houses include the sociodemographic characteristics of farmers (e.g., age, household income) and characteristics of the vacant houses (e.g., distance to the main roads, the status of vacant houses), while the major factors that affect the willingness of urban residents to rent in or purchase vacant rural houses are the sociodemographic characteristics of urban residents themselves (e.g., occupation), the status of the potential houses, and the perceived housing market; (3) most farmers want a regulated platform for the vacant farmhouses; urban residents pay more attention to the good natural environment in rural areas and the infrastructure and public service levels of vacant farmhouses in rural areas. This study thus showed the necessity, feasibility, and potential challenges and barriers involved in establishing a VFM in China.

Rural land reforms and villagers' preferences for urban settlement: A case study of Shandong Province, China

AbstractBased on surveys conducted in Shandong Province, China, this paper examined the interests of rural residents to move to and settle in cities, as well as the factors that motivate or discourage their potential settlement changes. Results of the binary logistic regression analysis showed that villagers' urban settlement preference was related to sociodemographic factors such as gender, age, and occupation. Overall, the separation of the “three rights” (collective ownership, land contract right, and land use right) associated with rural land has strengthened the urban settlement preference of rural residents. Nevertheless, we did not find significant association between land transfer and the preference for urban settlement. For villagers who expressed interest in urban settlement, better job opportunities, education opportunities, and higher income are the leading “pull” factors that would attract them to cities. The attachment to rural life, high living costs, and high housing prices in cities were the top concerns for villagers who did not want to move. The study also found that villagers' desired urban destinations changed with the changing land parameters, indicating that the outcomes of China's rural land reforms may not be aligned well with the policy goals laid in the country's urbanization and rural development plans.

Основні тренди глобалізації й урбанізації та урахування їх впливу в процесі управління розвитком регіонів України

The article is aimed at determining trends in urbanization and globalization to take into account their influence in the process of managing the development of regions of Ukraine. It is defined that the level of urbanization in Ukraine over the past 30 years is high, while the regions of the country are significantly differentiated by the level of urbanization. The most urbanized are Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. The only region of Ukraine where the level of urbanization is being reduced is Zakarpattya region. Three regions of Ukraine - Ternopil, Chernihiv and Khmelnytsky are characterized by the most intensive urbanization processes, where the growth of urbanization is now almost ten times higher than the national average over the past 30 years. The research identified the main urbanization challenges, in particular: deepening the economic gap between cities and villages and between large cities and cities of region significance; economic development of the region determines the ability to unite and concentrate the creative capital; increase in inequality and segregation of the population; growth of the suburb crisis; unreasonable increase in house prices in cities to a level that is inaccessible to the majority of the population. The most significant globalization challenges include: increased global competition, growing regional differentiation and specialization; degradation of the real sector of the economy; significant increase in energy consumption; restricting access of a large part of the population to high-quality goods and services at reasonable prices; change of natural and climatic conditions for people’s life, strengthening ecological problems. The unreasonability of the widespread statement on the ineffectiveness of agglomerations and excessive absorption of resources is proven. Prospects for further research in this direction are the development of theoretical principles and the development of practical recommendations for improving the adoption of managerial decisions at the level of regional governance bodies, taking into account the challenges of globalization and urbanization.

Competition of Attracting Investment，Residential Land Prices and Housing Prices

The competition for industrial investment among local governments has distorted the allocation of construction land and brought the rising pressure on residential land prices and housing prices. The existing literature ignores the transmission mechanism between the competition of attracting investment and residential land prices as well as housing prices. Based on the panel data of 104 Chinese major cities from 2009 to 2015, and applying the mediation effect method, this paper investigates the mechanism of attracting investment competition affecting residential land prices and housing prices. The study demonstrates that the competition of attracting investment has significantly increased residential land prices and housing prices. Specifically, the competition of attracting investment mainly raises residential land prices by reducing the supply elasticity of residential land, decreasing the per capita living land area and strengthening the rigidity of housing demand. And the competition promotes housing prices through the paths of increasing government intervention, reducing the supply elasticity of residential land and improving the level of industrial agglomeration. Compared with the housing price, the price of residential land is not sensitive to demand shock because of the influence of the government’s administrative intervention. Furthermore, the competition of attracting investment in the eastern region has remarkably increased residential land prices and housing prices, while the competition in the central and western regions has a significant negative impact on residential land prices and the impact on housing prices is insignificant. And the effect of attracting investment competition in provincial capitals on promoting residential land prices and housing prices is significantly higher than that in general prefecture-level cities. The conclusion of the paper reveals the inefficiency problem under the intervention of local governments. The key to realize the healthy and coordinated development of the real estate industry and the regional balanced development is to reconstruct the incentive mechanism of local governments, improve the market-based allocation of construction land, and optimize the allocation of industrial resources. Compared with the existing literature, the main contributions of this paper lie in three aspects: Firstly, this paper explains the mechanism of attracting investment competition affecting residential land prices and housing prices, deepening the understanding of the political and economic logic behind the Chinese real estate market. Secondly, this paper explores the channels through which the competition of attracting investment affects residential land prices and housing prices. Thirdly, breaking the single research perspective, this paper examines the heterogeneous impact of attracting investment competition on residential land prices and housing prices in cities with different geographical locations and cities at different administrative levels, providing economic logic inspiration for differentiated housing prices in China.

Urban Housing Prices, Labor Mobility and the Development of Urban High-Tech Industries<br/>—An Empirical Analysis Based on Panel Data in the Pearl River Delta Region

This paper proposes two hypotheses that urban housing prices inhibit urban labor mobility and urban high-tech industry development by introducing the extended CP model of housing prices. On this basis, using the data of the 9-city data of the Pearl River Delta from 2001 to 2015 to conduct empirical analysis and testing through the fixed-effects model, it is found that the increase of relative housing prices in cities will promote urban labor inflows and inhibit the development of urban high-tech industries. Factors such as education level, medical level, and government budget expenditure will, to a certain extent, strengthen the role of relative housing prices in promoting labor inflows and weaken the inhibition of urban housing prices on high-tech industries.

Build a people-oriented urbanization: China’s new-type urbanization dream and Anhui model

Since 2014, the Chinese government has initiatednew-type urbanization under the guidance of ‘the National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014–2020)’, which embarks on a significant transformation of the model of urbanization in post-reform China. To understand the origin and outputs of this policy, this article demonstrates the context of China’s new-type urbanization. The paper proposes a conceptual framework of new-type urbanization, which mainly includes four aspects: humanism, people-oriented urbanization; inclusivism, benefits sharing for urban and rural; sustainability, development without sacrifice of resources and environment; and harmonism, coordination. This is followed by an examination of the case of Anhui province, as a pilot province of China’s new-type urbanization. Anhui has performed a lot of related work to promote citizenization of peasant workers and has made great progress on the reform of the household registration system. The study found that despite a special emphasis on people-oriented urbanization, the pressures and costs of citizenization of peasant workers are growing fast, accompanied by rising housing prices in cities. This insight suggests there are benefits and costs of promoting China’s new-type urbanization. Despite the advantages of institutional innovation, the unexpected side effects such as rapid rising housing prices actually undermine the success of plan implementation.

International and Intercity Trade, and Housing Prices in US Cities

International trade models typically consider countries exchanging goods/services, while urban models often examine the consequences of domestic trade for city structure. Relatively little known research synthesizes these to allow for shocks propagating domestically with both domestic and international trade. One exception is Autor et al. (2013), who examine how Chinese imports impact US domestic labor markets. We consider how city-to-city trade and city international exports impact city Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and housing price growth. We develop a theoretical model of trading cities, domestically and internationally, and explore its empirical predictions. We propose and estimate several empirical models. Using instrumental variables (IV), we identify city-level GDP growth impacts on city house price growth. This first equation follows from imposing spatial equilibrium across cities. The second IV equation examines how international exports from a city, transfers, and domestic shipments impact city-level GDP. We also consider a third set of equations, which explores how economic integration, domestic and international, affects city-level GDP growth. In general, our empirical estimation results confirm the signs/magnitudes predicted by the theory, and imply that labor market shocks in trading cities affect city-level GDP, which in turn impacts housing prices. This theoretical approach, synthesis of city-level data, and empirical analysis are completely novel.

ON PRICE CO-MOVEMENT AND VOLATILITY SPILLOVER EFFECTS IN CHINA’S HOUSING MARKETS

The soaring property prices in many Chinese cities have recently attracted increasing attention. This study uses the data on housing price indices from January 2005 to December 2014 in 10 large Chinese cities to analyze volatility spillover effects and to identify the determinants of price co-movement across the China’s regional housing markets. This research proposes a novel dynamic spatial panel data model that accounts for multivariate asymmetrical generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity components in disturbances to address these issues empirically. Results reveal that housing prices in cities are significantly influenced by population, income, mortgage rates, policy factors, and the national macroeconomic situation. The analysis further indicates that the housing returns of regions in China that are in close geographic and economic proximities exhibit strong co-movement and volatility spillovers. Evidence of significantly positive leverage effects in regional housing markets is also determined. This study’s findings have significant implications for academic researchers, financial experts, and policy makers.

Causality analysis of the Canadian city house price indices: A cross-sample validation approach

We examine pair-wise causality between 11 Canadian city house price indices. Monthly data that span from 1990:7 to 2015:9 are employed. The traditional Granger-causality framework is relaxed by following the cross-sample validation approach of Ashley and Tsang (2014). This allows us to overcome the ad hoc partition of the sample and examine predictability both “in” and “out-of-sample”. Toronto emerges as the driving force of the Canadian Housing Market.

Spatial interrelations of Chinese housing markets: Spatial causality, convergence and diffusion

This paper comprehensively tests the spatial interrelationships of 10 housing markets in the Pan-Pearl River Delta (Pan-PRD) in China, including the properties of spatial causality, convergence and diffusion patterns. The pairwise Toda-Yamamoto Granger causality tests suggest widely existing leading-lag relationships between housing markets; a unidirectional causal flow from the eastern-central area to western China can be tentatively confirmed. However, there is a lack of sufficient evidence supporting pairwise long-run cointegration and convergence, indicating a diverged interurban housing market in the Pan-PRD. In the short run, the spatial-temporal diffusion model manifests the importance of the spillover effect from neighbouring cities in predicting one city's house price changes. Furthermore, the generalized impulse response functions (GIRFs) clearly depict the transmission pattern of shocks to one chosen city. The diffusion pattern is characterized by the fact that the shocks first spread to nearby cities with cities further away taking a longer time to respond.

Housing prices in urban areas

This paper develops a framework to explain the uneven development of housing prices in cities. Since the main price component of housing is capitalized rent, the financial base of this rent is analysed. Therefore three categories of accumulation strategies are defined: places of production, places of consumption and places of business services. The restructuring of urban economies after the crisis of Fordism is interpreted as a shift from places of production to places of consumption or business services. Subsequently, the disciplining function of places of production on housing prices eroded, resulting in uneven price developments.

A panel error correction approach to explore spatial correlation patterns of the dominant housing market in Australian capital cities

Purpose – A panel error correction model has been developed to investigate the spatial correlation patterns among house prices. This paper aims to identify a dominant housing market in the ripple down process. Design/methodology/approach – Seemingly unrelated regression estimators are adapted to deal with the contemporary correlations and heterogeneity across cities. Impulse response functions are subsequently implemented to simulate the spatial correlation patterns. The newly developed approach is then applied to the Australian capital city house price indices. Findings – The results suggest that Melbourne should be recognised as the dominant housing market. Four levels were classified within the Australian house price interconnections, namely: Melbourne; Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and Sydney; Brisbane and Hobart; and Darwin. Originality/value – This research develops a panel regression framework in addressing the spatial correlation patterns of house prices across cities. The ripple-down process of house price dynamics across cities was explored by capturing both the contemporary correlations and heterogeneity, and by identifying the dominant housing market.

Relative House Price Dynamics Across Euro Area and US Cities: Convergence or Divergence?

This paper examines the time varying dispersion in city house price levels across the four biggest euro area countries compared with those in the United States. Using available city-level data over the period 1980-2008, it tests for price convergence and analyses key factors explaining price difierentials in a panel regression framework including per capita income, population and relative distances. Results indicate limited evidence of convergence in city-level house prices despite synchronised cycles in the national aggregates for most countries since the 1990s. There is an important role for income difierentials in explaining city-level house price dispersion in Germany, France, and the US (but not in Italy or Spain once unobserved city factors are taken into account). At the same time, population difierences across cities play a role, though this appears to be associated with amenities speciflc to a particular location. In general, there has been a lower dispersion of city-level house prices in the four largest euro area economies compared with the US in conjunction with a lower estimated income elasticity for house price difierentials. The results, particularly for income, appear to be robust to restricting the analysis to large urban centres.