International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis

vLex
Publisher:
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Publication date:
2021-02-01
ISBN:
1753-8270

Issue Number

Latest documents

  • Editorial
  • Editorial
  • Editorial
  • Editorial
  • Rent control and potential underutilization of housing resources

    Purpose: Rent control may lead to inefficient use of subsidized apartments. This paper aims to empirically investigate if this phenomenon exists under the Swedish rent control regime. Design/methodology/approach: The quantitative part of the study uses data from Statistics Sweden to calculate, for all municipalities in Sweden, the fraction of residential rental units where no one is living permanently. The qualitative part augments the quantitative results with a survey where representatives for 14 municipal and four private property companies in small, mid-sized and large municipalities were interviewed. Findings: This paper finds that a surprisingly large fraction of the rental housing stock, about 9.4% on a national level, is underused in the way that rent is paid but no one is living permanently in the apartment according to the official Swedish population register. The underutilization rate is negatively correlated to the median rent in a municipality. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited to Swedish data. This paper does not explore the potential effects of regional economic and demographic conditions on the measure of underutilization. Practical implications: A policy implication of the present results is that underutilization of the Swedish rental housing stock can be reduced by limiting the supply of rent-controlled housing to households that are in economic or social need. Originality/value: Numerous papers have analysed various aspects of rent control. However, few papers have empirically analysed how a general rent control system where all tenants, irrespective of economic or social need, have access to rent controlled apartments may contribute to housing inefficiencies. This research contributes to the empirical literature on rent control by analysing the relationship between non-targeted housing subsidies and underutilization of housing units.

  • Data-driven approach to optimizing property management strategies: spatial modeling analytics of short-term rentals

    Purpose: This study aims to explore the impact of locational and seasonal factors on the financial performance of short-term rental properties in Margaret River, Western Australia. It seeks to address the gap in understanding how these factors influence key financial metrics such as average daily rate (ADR) and occupancy rates, providing insights for property managers, investors and policymakers. Design/methodology/approach: The research uses a mixed-method approach, integrating advanced predictive modeling techniques, such as Random Forests and Gradient Boosting, with spatial clustering algorithms like density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) and ordering points to identify the clustering structure (OPTICS). The study analyzes a comprehensive data set of short-term rental properties between 2012 and 2019. It focuses on locational attributes, seasonal variations and financial outcomes. Findings: The findings reveal that properties located near tourist attractions and amenities consistently achieve higher ADRs and occupancy rates, confirming the critical role of location in driving rental demand. Seasonal analysis indicates significant fluctuations in both ADR and occupancy rates, with peaks during high tourist seasons and troughs in off-peak periods. The study underscores the importance of dynamic pricing strategies to optimize revenue and sustain occupancy across different seasons. In addition, it highlights the influence of property features, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, on ADR, while noting that larger properties do not necessarily achieve higher occupancy rates. Research limitations/implications: Future research could expand the scope to include different locations and explore the long-term impacts of locational and seasonal factors on property performance. Originality/value: This research contributes to the literature by integrating spatial analysis with advanced predictive modeling techniques to provide a nuanced understanding of how locational and seasonal factors impact financial performance in the short-term rental market. It offers a novel application of data analytics within the context of tourism and hospitality management, bridging theoretical frameworks with practical insights.

  • Editorial: IJHMA 17.5 editorial
  • Housing price determinants in Ecuador: a spatial hedonic analysis

    Purpose: This paper aims to compare the efficiency of spatial and nonspatial hedonic price models in capturing housing submarkets dynamics for cities in developing countries. This study expects to contribute to a better understanding of the housing price determinants from both nonspatial and spatial perspectives. In addition, this paper fills a gap in the literature on the study of housing prices from a spatial perspective in Latin American cities. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a comparative analysis between an ordinary least squares regression and a geographical weighted regression, GWR. The study also assesses the performance of two distinct data sources: the city’s cadastral records and a real estate sales web portal. Findings: The results suggest that compared to the traditional regression model, the spatial regression models are more effective at capturing housing market variations on a fine scale. Moreover, they reveal interesting findings on the spatial varying, sometimes contradictory effects of some housing attributes on housing prices in different areas of the city, suggesting the potential impact from segregation. Research limitations/implications: The availability of data on housing prices and characteristics in Latin American cities is fragmented and complex. The level of detail, granularity and coverage is not consistent over time. For this reason, this study combines and compares data sets from official and unofficial sources in an effort to close this gap. Likewise, the socioeconomic variables that come from the census must be carefully analyzed, knowing the historical context in which they were constructed, what they represent and their interpretation. Practical implications: This paper suggests that despite the improvement on the spatial models, the selection of a specific one should always be based on the diagnosis of it as it highly depends on the data used and the objectives of the study. Originality/value: This study enriches the limited body of literature on spatial hedonic price models of housing in Latin American cities. It also shed light on the importance of spatial approaches to identify complex housing submarkets.

  • A modified spatial house price to income ratio and housing affordability drivers study: using the post-LASSO approach

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an index for measuring urban house price affordability that integrates spatial considerations and to explore the drivers of housing affordability using the post-least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) approach and the ordinary least squares method of regression analysis. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on time-series data collected from 2005 to 2021 for 256 prefectural-level city districts in China. The new urban spatial house-to-price ratio introduced in this study adds the consideration of commuting costs due to spatial endowment compared to the traditional house-to-price ratio. And compared with the use of ordinary economic modelling methods, this study adopts the post-LASSO variable selection approach combined with the k-fold cross-test model to identify the most important drivers of housing affordability, thus better solving the problems of multicollinearity and overfitting. Findings: Urban macroeconomics environment and government regulations have varying degrees of influence on housing affordability in cities. Among them, gross domestic product is the most important influence. Research limitations/implications: The paper provides important implications for policymakers, real estate professionals and researchers. For example, policymakers will be able to design policies that target the most influential factors of housing affordability in their region. Originality/value: This study introduces a new urban spatial house price-to-income ratio, and it examines how macroeconomic indicators, government regulation, real estate market supply and urban infrastructure level have a significant impact on housing affordability. The problem of having too many variables in the decision-making process is minimized through the post-LASSO methodology, which varies the parameters of the model to allow for the ranking of the importance of the variables. As a result, this approach allows policymakers and stakeholders in the real estate market more flexibility in determining policy interventions. In addition, through the k-fold cross-validation methodology, the study ensures a high degree of accuracy and credibility when using drivers to predict housing affordability.

  • Impact of proximity to cell phone tower base stations on residential property prices in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa

    Purpose: With revolutions in the telecommunication sector having led to wide unprecedented consequences in all facets of human life, this paper aims to examine the relationship between cell phone tower base stations (CPTBSs) and residential property prices within the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), South Africa. Design/methodology/approach: The authors align their work with global literature and assess how the impact of CPTBSs influences residential property values in South Africa. The authors use a semi-log hedonic pricing model to test the hypothesis that proximity of CPTBSs to residential properties does not account for any variation in residential property prices. Findings: The results show a significant impact that proximity of CPTBS has on residential property sale prices. However, the impact of CTPBSs’ proximity on residential property prices depends on their distance from the residential properties. The closer a residential property is to the CTPBS, the greater the impact that the CTPBS will have on the selling price of the residential property. Originality/value: With international studies offering mixed findings on the impact of CPTBSs on residential property values, there is limited research on their impact in South Africa. The findings of this study offer crucial insights for the real estate practitioners, property owners, telecommunications companies and the public, providing a nuanced understanding of the relationship between CPTBSs and property values. This research helps property owners understand the effects of CPTBSs on their properties, and it assists property valuers in gauging the impact of CPTBSs on property values.

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