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The Influence of Urban Design Packages on Home Values

Bitter, Christopher; Krause, Andy. (2017). The Influence of Urban Design Packages on Home Values. International Journal Of Housing Markets And Analysis, 10(2), 184 – 203.

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Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of neighborhood design templates on residential home values in King County, WA, USA. Previous research examines a number of individual design factors; this study combines these factors into typologies and tests for the impacts of the composite set of design features. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzes over 27,000 home sales with a hedonic price model to measure the impacts across three large, regional submarkets. Neighborhood design categories are developed using a cluster analysis on a set of individual neighborhood attributes. Findings The key finding from this research is that the impact of more traditional (“urban”) design packages on home values is highly contextual. For the older and denser neighborhoods in the study area, a more traditional design results in a significantly positive impact on home values. In the new and more suburban regions of the study area, this effect is not found. Originality/value Prior work focused on valuing design attributes individually. The study argues that neighborhood design is better conceived of as a “package”, as the value of a given design element may depend on other co-located attributes. This is the first study, to the authors’ knowledge, to treat physical neighborhood design variables as a composite whole and to attempt to value their impact on home values as such.

Keywords

Regional Development; Packages; Cluster Analysis; Suburban Areas; Residential Areas; Housing; Design; Connectivity; Property Values; Urban Planning; Emission Standards; Neighborhoods; Urban Areas; Influence; Household Utilities; Design Factors; Regional Analysis; Housing Prices; Land Use; Tax Assessments; Urbanism

Housing Wealth and Consumption over the 2001-2013 Period: The Role of the Collateral Channel

Acolin, Arthur. (2020). Housing Wealth and Consumption over the 2001-2013 Period: The Role of the Collateral Channel. Journal Of Housing Research, 29(1), 68 – 88.

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Abstract

This study estimates changes in the relationship between housing wealth and consumption among homeowners during the recent housing boom and bust in the United States, focusing on the period 2001-2007, during which house prices increased and financial innovations led to an increased availability of products enabling households to extract home equity; and on the period 2007-2013, during which house prices declined and home equity withdrawal products became largely unavailable. The estimated elasticity of consumption with regard to housing wealth increased in 2004 and 2007 (.06) relative to 2001 (.04). The estimated elasticities then decreased in 2010 and 2013 (to below .04). In addition, the increase was larger among borrowing constrained households than unconstrained households. No relationship between housing prices and consumption was found among renters. These additional tests for subpopulations support the hypothesis that the increase in consumption out of housing wealth occurred through the collateral channel.

Keywords

Consumption (economics); Wealth; Product Elimination; Equity (real Property); Home Prices; Home Ownership; United States; Collateral Channel; Credit And Consumption; Housing Wealth Effects; Housing; Housing Costs; Estimates; Prices; Households; Consumption; Equity; Borrowing; Hypotheses; Innovations; Elasticity Of Demand; Propensity To Consume; Housing Prices; Lines Of Credit; Mortgages; Subpopulations; Collateral; United States--us

The Residential Segregation of San Antonio, Texas in 1910: An Analysis of Ethno-racial and Occupational Spatial Patterns with the Colocation Quotient

Cordoba, Hilton A.; Walter, Rebecca J.; Foote, Nathan S. (2018). The Residential Segregation of San Antonio, Texas in 1910: An Analysis Of Ethno-racial and Occupational Spatial Patterns with the Colocation Quotient. Urban Geography, 39(7), 988 – 1017.

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Abstract

The segregation of cities can be traced to a time when the compartmentalization of space and people was based on factors other than race. In segregation research, one of the limiting factors has always been the geographic scale of the data, and the limited knowledge that exists of segregation patterns when the household is the unit of analysis. Historical census data provides the opportunity to analyze the disaggregated information, and this paper does so with San Antonio during 1910. A spatial analysis of residential segregation based on race, ethnicity, and occupations is carried out with the colocation quotient to map and measure the attraction of residents. Results reveal the presence of residential segregation patterns on different sectors of the city based on households' ethno-racial and occupational attributes; therefore, providing evidence of the existence of residential segregation prior to the commonly cited determinants of segregation of the 20th century.

Keywords

Housing Tax Credit; Local Indicators; New York; Association; Indexes; Cities; Scale; City; Differentiation; Environment; Residential Segregation; Colocation Quotient; San Antonio; Spatial Analysis

Owning vs. Renting: The Benefits of Residential Stability?

Acolin, Arthur. (2020). Owning vs. Renting: The Benefits of Residential Stability? Housing Studies, 37(4), 644-647.

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Abstract

In housing research, owning, as compared to renting, is generally depicted as more desirable and associated with better outcomes. This paper explores differences in outcomes between owners and renters in 25 European countries and whether these differences are systematically smaller in countries in which owners and renters have more similar levels of residential stability (smaller tenure length gap). The results indicate that the direction of the relationship between tenure type and the selected outcomes is largely similar across countries. Owners generally exhibit more desirable outcomes (including life satisfaction, civic participation, educational outcomes for children, and physical and mental health). However, when looking at the relationship between outcomes and country level differences in tenure length gap, findings suggest that renters have outcomes that are more similar to owners in countries in which tenure length gaps are smaller. These results point to the potential benefits of policies that would increase residential stability, particularly for renters.

Keywords

European Union; Homeownership Benefits; Length Of Residence; Tenure; Home-ownership; Homeownership

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