Open space,house prices,and the tax base

This paper examines the effect of public acquisitions of open space on changes in house prices and the municipal tax base using municipal-level data from New Jersey. We find that open-space expenditures yield a stream of benefits in the future but that any effect of open-space acquisitions on the tax base is immediate. Finally, we find that while higher tax rates are associated with a lower tax base, a larger tax base depresses tax rates.     

Development of house prices in the Netherlands

This contribution concerns the development of prices in the owneroccupied sector in the Netherlands. The analysis focuses on the development over two decades, from 1975 to 1995. That period may be divided into a number of phases of growth and stagnation, as defined by fluctuating house prices. Some explanations for these fluctuations are offered here. These include the influence of regulation by government and other major institutions; demographic developments; developments in the supply of owner-occupied dwellings; developments in a number of economic variables; and the dynamics of the market. Then an attempt is made to estimate how prices will develop in the future. It should be kept in mind that this forecast is based on statistical relations that were calculated with reference to the past. In the event those relations change in the future, the model estimated here would not yield good predictions. Peter Boelhouwer is researcher at the OTB Research Institute for Policy and Technology at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. His research focus has been general housing policy, housing finance and comparative housing research. Johan Conijn is director of the OTB Research Institute for Policy and Technology at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. His research focus has been general housing economics, housing finance, and general housing policy. Paul de Vries is assistant-researcher OTB Research Institute for Policy and Technology at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. His research focus has been building market and statistical analyses.     

Modeling regional house prices in the United Kingdom

In the second half of the 1980s the United Kingdom experienced a widening of house-price differentials between the South and the North, thus providing an extra impetus to the claim of a North-South divide. This paper adopts a broader perspective and examines the view that the pattern of house-price differentials across regions resembles a ripple effect. Long time-series data covering 10 UK regions and various statistical/econometric techniques are used to test the ripple-effect hypothesis. The cumulative evidence seems to conform to the hypothesis. Various explanations of this phenomenon, including interregional migration, are considered.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 30th European Congress, Istanbul, August 1990.     

Factor prices,non-neutral technical change and regional variations in unemployment rates

This paper provides empirical results which indicate that in the Canadian case regional output and employment sensitivity are not closely associated. The result suggests that causes other than demand variability between regions may explain employment sensitivity differences. A comprehensive theoretical construct based upon regional factor intensity differences in production was developed as an alternative explanation of employment sensitivities to those based simply on regional differences in demand elasticities, efficiencies of technology parameters, or the failure of some regions to efficiently allocate factors of production in accordance with their price ratios.     

City proximity,travel modes and house prices: the three cities in Sydney

Journal of Housing and the Built Environment - House prices are partly explained by proximity to the urban centre. Generally, and for simplicity, proximity is measured via straight-line distance...     

Noise expectations and house prices: the reaction of property prices to an airport expansion

We examine the effects of an airport expansion on the prices of houses and apartments located under the planned flight paths. We focus on the role of expectations of aircraft noise during the expansion of Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport. The publication of the flight paths can be seen as an exogenous event. It provides local residents and potential home buyers with reliable information in a situation that is characterized by uncertainty. The flight paths greatly influence the expectation of the noise level. We find that property listing prices were reduced substantially in the affected areas after the flight paths were published. The loss of value of the affected properties was found to be 9.6 % on average within a slant distance of 3 km from a planned flight path. If the flight altitude is below 1,000 m, the discount is between 11.8 and 12.8 %, whereas for higher flight altitudes, the average decline in prices is estimated to be 8.3 %.     

Estimation of house prices in regions with small sample sizes

House price indexes had become important economic indicators worldwide, since movements in house prices have been closely correlated with the economic cycle. In order to compute these kind of indexes it is imperative to produce reliable estimates of the average transaction price of houses, not only at the macrolevel (e.g. national and state level), but also at the microlevel (e.g. district, municipalities or further disaggregate regional level). In Portugal, there is a rapidly growing demand of such microlevel statistics since the beginning of the recent financial and economic crisis. The Portuguese Statistical Office provides a range of invaluable data at national level; however, this data cannot be used directly to produce reliable regional-level estimates due to small sample sizes. In this paper we employ small area estimation techniques to produce design and model-based estimates of average transaction price of houses for Portuguese regions with small sample sizes. Our results show that the model-based estimates based on spatial and temporal models are more accurate than the traditional direct design-based estimates. The use of these techniques allows the production of information at disaggregated regional levels that would not be available under the traditional direct estimation approaches. Furthermore, it is even possible to produce reliable model-based estimates for geographical areas without sample. The estimates are expected to provide invaluable information to policy-analysts and decision-making.     

The effect of ground leases on house prices in Helsinki

One imperfection in housing markets is imperfect knowledge about legal interests such as ground leases. Both actual reduced legal interest as well as uncertainty surrounding rights and future lease payments for houses constructed on leased land may affect prices relative to houses built on freehold land. We use regression analysis of sales prices of condominium transactions in Helsinki to examine the effect ground leases have on house prices. We find that prices on condominiums constructed on leased lots are discounted at least 5 %, on average. In addition, we see that the announcement of potentially large increases in base rents upon renewal contributes to the discount.     

Development of house prices in the Netherlands: An international perspective

This article deals with the questionwhether it is plausible to assume, on the basis ofexperiences in other countries and general insightsinto the operation of the market for owner-occupiedhousing, that a price correction will take place inthe market for owner-occupied dwellings in theNetherlands or rather that it is reasonable toexpect that the rising trend in real sales prices,which started in the 1980s, will continue steadilyon the same course. On the grounds of thisinformation, we conclude that in the medium term, weshould expect to see a decline in the sales pricesfor dwellings in the Netherlands.     

The value of trees, water and open space as reflected by house prices in the Netherlands

An attractive environment is likely to influence house prices. Houses in attractive settings will have an added value over similar, less favourably located houses. This effect is intuitively felt, but does it always occur? Which environmental factors make a location an attractive place to live in? The present study explored the effect of different environmental factors on house prices. The research method was the hedonic pricing method, which uses statistical analysis to estimate that part of a price due to a particular attribute. Nearly 3000 house transactions, in eight towns or regions in the Netherlands, were studied to estimate the effect of environmental attributes on transaction prices. Some of the most salient results were as follows. We found the largest increases in house prices due to environmental factors (up to 28%) for houses with a garden facing water, which is connected to a sizeable lake. We were also able to demonstrate that a pleasant view can lead to a considerable increase in house price, particularly if the house overlooks water (8–10%) or open space (6–12%). In addition, the analysis revealed that house price varies by landscape type. Attractive landscape types were shown to attract a premium of 5–12% over less attractive environmental settings.     

A review of recent trends in house construction and land prices in Great Britain

Over the last few decades, house prices in the UK have risen at a higher rate than general prices, as measured by, for example, the retail price index. Construction prices, on the other hand, tend to have risen broadly in line with general prices. Assuming the same things are being measured in each case, this implies that, over the period, the price of land, the most significant non-construction element of house prices, has risen at a faster rate than house prices and a much higher rate than construction prices. This paper reviews past price trends and concludes that not only have house prices risen faster than construction prices but also that, as a result, construction prices represent a smaller proportion of house prices. The paper also considers briefly what might be the implications if that trend continued- or if it did not.     

The missing asymmetry in the Polish house price cycle: an analysis of the behaviour of house prices in 17 major cities

Journal of Housing and the Built Environment - This paper investigates the house price cycle in 17 major cities in Poland, analysing separately prices of newly constructed housing and prices in the...     

Changes in transitions from private renting to homeownership in the context of rapidly rising house prices

A period associated with the emergence of the current housing crisis in Britain provides a testbed in which to investigate household tenure choice in the context of rapidly rising house prices. We compile a bespoke data-set combining data from the British Household Panel Survey and sources of local and national housing and mortgage market information covering the period 1994–2008. During this period, we observe three key changes in behaviour associated with the emergence of the housing crisis: (i) increasing acceptance of long-term renting; (ii) the emergence of local house prices as a factor inhibiting entry to homeownership at district level; and (iii) the cessation of moving to a lower cost district as a strategy to enter homeownership. We interpret these findings as some private tenants reducing their aspiration for homeownership, and those seeking entry to homeownership shifting strategy from moving to cheaper districts in favour of staying put and saving.     

不动产统一登记与房价和房地产税的逻辑关系

通过分析我国不动产登记状况,导出了房地产税、房价调节、房地产调控与不动产统一登记之间的逻辑关系,并指出目前需加快推进不动产统一登记制度建设和完善的步伐,以促进房地产市场的健康发展。     

Exploring scan methods to test spatial structure with an application to housing prices in Madrid

We evaluate the usefulness of the spatial scan test in specification testing for spatial econometric models. The null hypothesis assumes equality of the mean values of a variable in all the locations of a geo‐referenced data set. The alternative hypothesis relies on the existence of one (or more) spatial cluster(s) where mean values differ from those of the rest of the sample. First, we conduct a Monte‐Carlo simulation study to analyse the properties of this test when applied to regression residuals. Second, we illustrate this test with an empirical application on housing prices in Madrid.     

基于预期理论的住宅市场价格调控模型及其仿真分析

针对我国目前住宅市场宏观调控前期效果不太理想的问题,建立住宅市场价格调控预期模型;给出基于不同预期理论的住宅价格数学表达式;分析预期因素对住宅市场宏观调控政策效果的影响规律;采用MATLAB软件,模拟北京市住宅市场价格调控过程,验证所建立价格模型的正确性,同时对不同供给调整系数条件下的试验结果进行对比分析.结果表明:市场主体的政策预期可导致调控政策的短期失效,住宅供给调整系数越小短期价格波动越剧烈;而长期中预期作用对调控政策效果无影响.研究结果为我国住宅市场宏观调控决策制定及实施提供了依据.     

Spatial prices,search behavior and location

This paper presents a model that links spatial prices with search behavior and location. Consumers are assumed to search for a product at the lowest overall costs where suppliers are spatially distributed. The expected result of this “shopping decision” is linked with a longer term “quantity decision” relating the customer’s location via bid prices for land with the expected costs of buying the product. We demonstrate various characteristics of this model via numerical simulations.     

Tariffs, factor prices, and welfare in a spatial oligopoly

In this paper we derive endogenous tariff rates for a tariff revenue maximizing policy and a welfare maximizing policy (optimal tariff) in a spatial framework. The underlying model is that of a spatial oligopolistic market with domestic and foreign firms. We assess the outcomes of the model for different tariff rates and the free trade situation, the stress being on welfare considerations. Compared to the traditional theory of international trade and tariffs, this approach affords useful insights into the role of firms‘ locations and transportation costs for profits and consumers‘ surplus in the case of alternative trade policies. Received: February 1996 / Accepted in revised form: April 1997     

CFD modelling of an industrial air diffuser—predicting velocity and temperature in the near zone

This article describes experimental and modelling results from CFD simulation of an air diffuser for industrial spaces. The main objective of this paper is to validate a manufacturer model of the diffuser. In the air diffuser, the low velocity part is placed on top of a multi-cone diffuser in order to increase airflow rates and maximize the cooling capacity of a single diffuser unit. This kind of configuration should ensure appropriate performance of industrial air diffusers, which is discussed briefly at the end of the article. The paper illustrates the importance of a simulation model jointly with the manufacturer's product model and the grid layout near the ventilation device to achieve accurate results. Parameters for diffuser modelling were adapted from literature and manufacturer's product data. Correct specification of diffuser geometry and numerical boundary conditions for CFD simulations are critical for prediction. The standard k–ε model was chosen to model turbulence because it represents the best-known model utilized and validated for air diffuser performance. CFD simulations were compared systematically with data from laboratory measurements; air velocity was measured by ultrasonic sensors. Results show that CFD simulation with a standard k–ε model accurately predicts non-isothermal airflow around the diffuser. Additionally, smoke tests revealed that the flow around the diffuser is not completely symmetrical as predicted by CFD. The cause of the observed asymmetry was not identified. This was the main reason why some simulation results deviate from the measured values.