THE ROLE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE SUPPLY OF HOUSING*

ABSTRACT As the housing stock in a city is duplicated, developers must devote greater amounts of resources to the provision of infrastructure. If the production of infrastructure is characterized by decreasing returns to scale, this will cause the price of developable land to increase. The conditions under which an upward-sloping supply curve for housing will result are discussed. Using cross-sectional data for U.S. cities from 1973 to 1982, it is shown that land prices fail to increase with the quantity of construction and that the price elasticity of the supply of housing is infinite.     

Racial rent differences in U.S. housing markets: Evidence from the housing voucher program

This paper exploits an unusually rich data set to estimate racial differences in the rents paid for identical housing in the same neighborhood in U.S. housing markets and to show how they vary with neighborhood racial composition. Results suggest that black households pay more for identical housing in identical neighborhoods than their white counterparts and that this rent gap increases with the fraction of the neighborhood white. In neighborhoods with the smallest fraction white, the premium is about 0.6%. In neighborhoods with the largest fraction white, it is about 2.4%. This pattern holds across different types of areas.     

THE IMPACT OF MIXED LAND USE ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY VALUES*

ABSTRACT Contemporary European urban planning policies aim to mix land uses in compact neighborhoods. It is presumed that mixing land uses yields socioeconomic benefits and therefore has a positive effect on housing values. In this paper, we investigate the impact of mixed land use on housing values using semiparametric estimation techniques. We demonstrate that a diverse neighborhood is positively valued by households. There are various land use types that have a positive impact on house prices, e.g., business services and leisure. Land uses that are incompatible with residential land use are, among others, manufacturing and wholesale. It appears that households are willing to pay about 2.5 percent more for a house in a mixed neighborhood. We also show that there is substantial heterogeneity in willingness to pay for mixed land use. For example, only apartment occupiers are willing to pay for an increase in diversity, whereas households living in other house types are not willing to pay for diversity.     

WHY DO RENTERS STAY IN OR LEAVE CERTAIN NEIGHBORHOODS? THE ROLE OF NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTERISTICS,HOUSING TENURE TRANSITIONS,AND RACE

Given significant variation in population turnover and stability across neighborhoods, this study examines why renters stay in or leave certain neighborhoods. It is the first to analyze how neighborhood characteristics influence renters’ decisions to move within the neighborhood as well as how these decisions are interrelated with their housing tenure transitions and race. Results demonstrate that homeownership rates have a significant, positive association with the probability that renters stay and/or purchase homes in the current neighborhood. Both the tenure composition of the housing stock and higher neighborhood satisfaction appear to be central in understanding this association. Results also suggest that nonblack renters are more likely to leave neighborhoods that experience growth in the percentage of the black population, while blacks are more likely to stay and purchase homes within such neighborhoods.     

北京城市老年人社区满意度研究——基于模糊评价法的分析

本文基于对北京市三个典型城市社区中老年人社区满意度的问卷调查,运用模糊评价法,对老年人的社区满意度进行案例研究。结果发现,老年人对社区社会环境较为满意,而对社区服务设施等社区物质环境不满;老年人更关注住房条件,而对社交和人际关系的关注较少。老年人特别重视的因子满意度不高,可能是导致社区满意度的综合模糊结果偏低的原因。进一步通过相关性分析和交叉表分析,从个人属性、家庭结构和所在社区类型等三个层面探讨社区满意度评价的影响因素,发现年龄低、学历高、收入高、与孙辈同住的老年人以及旧城平房社区中老年人社区满意度较高。老年人的社区满意度,将成为测度城市老年人生活品质的重要指标。     

THE EXCHANGEABILITY OF HEDONIC PROPERTY PRICE STUDIES*

ABSTRACT. Observations drawn from multiple markets are essential to the construction of indices of housing costs and to measures of demand for housing attributes. It is not evident when multiple markets exist or whether such markets exist for some attributes but not for others. We test for multiple markets by using Bayesian methods to assess the transferability (random exchangeability) of entire hedonic price expressions from one site and time to another, the transferability of hedonic price functions for particular attributes, and the degrees of similarity that hedonic price functions must have in order to be transferable. In our illustrations, price functions for structural housing attributes are generally transferable; prices for neighborhood attributes are not. Therefore, in our illustrations, the desired price indices and demand functions should be estimable for neighborhood attributes, but not for structural ones.     

RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY AND NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY*

ABSTRACT. This paper presents evidence on the factors causing residential mobility within inner-city neighborhoods. A theoretical model is presented which posits that intraurban mobility is a response to housing consumption disequilibrium. Our data and methodology permitted more accurate measurement of disequilibrium than in previous studies, including the disequilibrium arising from neighborhood change. The major conclusion we draw from our results is that households' perceptions of the level of neighborhood quality and its change influence the mobility decisions of both renters and homeowners residing within central cities. Also, in comparison to other measured factors, neighborhood variables were found to be strong mobility predictors regardless of housing tenure. Our results imply that neighborhood improvement policies may succeed in stabilizing inner-city neighborhoods.     

Teardowns,popups, and renovations: How does housing supply change?

Cities grow in layers over time. As population and land values increase, older, smaller buildings are replaced with higher density, higher value structures. However, direct costs of redevelopment and institutional barriers such as zoning may constrain replacement of older structures, leading to alternate forms of supply adjustment. In this paper, I use data on building permits in Washington DC to examine three different forms of residential investment: new construction, expansion of existing structures, and renovation. Results suggest that new construction accounts for a relatively small part of residential investment and is highly concentrated in a few neighborhoods. Expansions and alterations of existing structures are more frequent and more evenly dispersed across space. Recent increases in housing values are correlated with more new construction, but only among neighborhoods with relatively more permissive zoning. Additions and alterations are more prevalent in neighborhoods with high property values, older housing, and more restrictive zoning.     

中国大城市保障房社区的邻里效应研究——以广州市保障房周边社区为例

随着我国保障房建设速度的加快,保障房社区将对已有的城市社会空间结构带来深刻影响,其社会效应亟需深入探讨。本文以邻里效应为切入点,基于社区调研数据,采用因子分析、回归分析和质性研究方法,研究广州市保障房社区对周边社区的影响,以及这种影响的形成机制。研究发现,保障房社区并没有为周边社区带来负面的影响,也不存在"贫困同质化"的现象。然而,保障房居民与周边社区居民缺乏人际交往,其社会融合度也比较低。结果表明,提升保障房社区的社会认同度,消除不同社区居民相互间的隔阂,对构建和谐社区具有重要的意义。     

国内外城市居住空间研究的回顾与展望

住宅作为城市的重要职能和城市空间结构的重要组成部分,长期以来地理学、经济学、社会学、政治学等不同学科的学者一直关注城市居住和相关理论的研究。本文在全面阐述西方居住空间研究的理论、方法、研究领域和研究成果的基础上,对我国有关城市居住空间的研究领域和研究进展进行回顾,并展望有待进一步深化研究的领域。     

邻里环境感知对中国城市居民自评健康影响研究——以武汉市为例

邻里作为城市居民的重要日常生活场所，对健康的影响引起广泛关注。本文选取武汉市南湖街道这一典型住区，运用多元回归分析，针对商品房和保障房邻里展开对比研究，解析不同类型邻里中居民的邻里环境感知对自评健康的影响差异。研究发现，控制个人因素后，体育休闲设施感知、归属感和安全感显示出对自评健康独立且显著的影响。而在对比研究中，商品房邻里的居民自评健康受邻里环境感知的影响较显著，而保障房邻里的居民自评健康受个体层面特征的影响较显著。因此，宜针对不同类型邻里制定差异化的社区健康提升策略。     

NEIGHBORHOOD DYNAMICS AND PRICE EFFECTS OF SUPERFUND SITE CLEAN‐UP*

ABSTRACT Numerous hedonic price analyses estimate price effects associated with hazardous waste site remediation or other environmental variation. This paper estimates a neighborhood transition model to capture the direct price effect from Superfund site clean‐up and the indirect price effects arising from residential sorting and changes in investment in the housing stock following clean‐up. First‐difference models of neighborhood change and a national sample are used. This approach fails to find consistent positive direct price effects. Positive indirect effects, however, may arise through residential sorting and neighborhood investment spurred by remediation. The findings can be sensitive to policy endogeneity and model specification.     

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD: HOW CAN REGIONAL SCIENCE CONTRIBUTE TO THE STUDY OF NEIGHBORHOODS?*

ABSTRACT We argue in this paper that neighborhoods are highly relevant for the types of issues at the heart of regional science. First, residential and economic activity takes place in particular locations, and particular neighborhoods. Many attributes of those neighborhood environments matter for this activity, from the physical amenities, to the quality of the public and private services received. Second, those neighborhoods vary in their placement in the larger region and this broader arrangement of neighborhoods is particularly important for location choices, commuting behavior and travel patterns. Third, sorting across these neighborhoods by race and income may well matter for educational and labor market outcomes, important components of a region's overall economic activity. For each of these areas we suggest a series of unanswered questions that would benefit from more attention. Focused on neighborhood characteristics themselves, there are important gaps in our understanding of how neighborhoods change – the causes and the consequences. In terms of the overall pattern of neighborhoods and resulting commuting patterns, this connects directly to current concerns about environmental sustainability and there is much need for research relevant to policy makers. And in terms of segregation and sorting across neighborhoods, work is needed on better spatial measures. In addition, housing market causes and consequences for local economic activity are under researched. We expand on each of these, finishing with some suggestions on how newly available data, with improved spatial identifiers, may enable regional scientists to answer some of these research questions.     

基于时空间行为的混合住房社区社会分异的研究框架

混合住房社区内的社会分异是城市社会分异的新形式，是城市地理学者面临的新研究议题，也是在促进社会融合过程中亟待解决的问题。以居住区分异为核心的研究范式平均化了“邻里效应”，无法揭示同一居住区内部的社会分异。居民时空间行为研究为揭示社区内部的社会分异提供了理论和方法支撑。本文首先回顾混合住房社区政策的起源、发展及学术界关于居住混合与社会融合关系的争议，然后对目前国内外关于混合住房社区的研究进行综述，接着讨论了从时空间行为视角透视社会分异问题的有效性，并基于已有研究进展构建了基于居民时空间行为的混合住房社区社会分异的研究框架，以期为混合住房社区政策制定和城市社区管理提供参考。     

‘we don't really get to go out in the front yard’—children's home range and neighborhood violence

This comparison of the home range of sixty 7–11-year-old children in five Cleveland, OH, USA, neighborhoods with different levels of violence/crime revealed: (a) home range was a useful tool to study effects of neighborhoods on children; (b) neighborhood violence had differential effects on range, depending on child's gender, age, and range type. Among 7–9-year-olds, range ‘when alone’ or ‘with a friend’ was similar regardless of gender or level of neighborhood violence. Among 10–11-year-olds, girls of elevated-violence neighborhoods had smaller ranges ‘when alone’ compared to peers. However, some of these girls reported ways to utilize neighborhood resources while accommodating to home-range limitations.     

Housing Market Dynamics Under Stochastic Growth: An Application to the Housing Market in Boulder, Colorado

Recent housing-market studies have modeled slow stock and price adjustment with some success. However, the empirical procedures used in these models break down if housing stocks or prices are driven by stochastic growth. In this paper I suggest an error-correction model for analyzing housing supply and demand under conditions of stochastic growth for a regional housing market. The model is applied to the housing market in Boulder, Colorado from 1981 through 1995—a period of rapid growth in housing values in the area. Long-run housing supply and demand are shown to be inelastic with respect to changes in the price of housing. The results indicate that developers respond more accurately to housing-market disequilibrium attributable to supply-side disturbances than to disturbances generated by changes in the demand for housing. On the other hand, price appreciation is driven primarily by demand disturbances.     

TRAFFIC EXTERNALITIES AND SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE PRICES*

ABSTRACT. This study is the first to lend empirical support to the common belief that traffic intensity affects property values. Using a standard hedonic pricing model, this paper investigates the price effects on housing of traffic within a neighborhood. Results using data on single-family housing transactions for two different locations in a medium-sized city show a substantial negative price effect of traffic externalities. The magnitude of the effect is shown to be location specific.     

Housing Price Gradients: The Intersection of Space and Built Form

A hedonic housing price model, implemented for the Dallas region, reveals a housing market structured around multiple nodes, some of which give rise to positive and others to negative externalities. The utility/disutility derived from relative location is capitalized into the size and quality of the housing stock and the nature of neighborhood amenities. The result is a convergence of space and built form.     

Neighborhood house price indexes in Chicago: a Fourier repeat sales approach

House price indexes are estimated for 851 census tracts in theCity of Chicago using a Fourier repeat sales estimator. Locallyweighted regression allows price indexes to be estimated forsubmarkets with small numbers of sales. Annual appreciationrates are higher between 1990 and 1996 in neighborhoods closeto the city center with large minority populations, high concentrationsof poverty, and many vacant homes in 1990.     

What's a School Worth to a Neighborhood? A Spatial Hedonic Analysis of Property Prices in the Context of Accommodation Reviews in Ontario

Due to a change in capital funding formula, many school boards across the Province of Ontario engaged in Accommodation Reviews to rationalize the supply of school capacity. This process led to numerous school closures and raised important policy questions regarding the economic value of a school in terms of its capitalization into property values and, by extension, how the closure of a school might affect local neighborhoods. To explore these questions, this research uses spatial hedonic methods to estimate the implicit value of accessibility to schools in the City of Hamilton, Ontario. Spatial Durbin model results provide evidence of a significant negative correlation between distance to schools and housing prices in the Canadian context. This suggests that accessibility to schools is capitalized into property values and that the closure of a neighborhood school may result in potentially significant losses of economic value in communities.