IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v57y2016icp46-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Doing well by doing good? The case of housing construction quality in China

Author

Listed:
  • He, Jia
  • Wu, Jing

Abstract

Construction quality is a major problem in China's housing market. We investigate whether the housing market could provide incentives to encourage developers to promote construction quality beyond the compulsory, minimum standards by testing the financial viability of efforts made in this field by developers. This study takes place in the city of Beijing, where the “Great Wall Award”, granted by the local construction bureau, is used as an indicator of excellent performance in construction quality. Our analysis shows that, from 2005 to 2010, the transaction price in the housing resale market of a unit that received the award can be up to 7.0% higher than a similar unit that did not receive the award. This difference is due to both the higher possible rent and a lower capitalization rate. However, we find no meaningful price premium at the presale stage, while developers with a record of winning the award cannot use such reputation to obtain price premiums in later projects either. These findings indicate a mismatch between the costs and benefits that residential developers face when deciding to enhance the quality of their construction. This mismatch partially explains the current housing construction quality problems in China, and may also discourage future improvements in this field. More efforts from the government are required to correct such market failures.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Jia & Wu, Jing, 2016. "Doing well by doing good? The case of housing construction quality in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 46-53.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:57:y:2016:i:c:p:46-53
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2016.01.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166046216000041
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2016.01.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deng, Yongheng & Li, Zhiliang & Quigley, John M., 2012. "Economic returns to energy-efficient investments in the housing market: Evidence from Singapore," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 506-515.
    2. K. Chau & S. Wong & C. Yiu, 2007. "Housing Quality in the Forward Contracts Market," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 313-325, April.
    3. Piet Eichholtz & Nils Kok & John M. Quigley, 2010. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Green Office Buildings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2492-2509, December.
    4. Anglin, Paul M & Rutherford, Ronald & Springer, Thomas M, 2003. "The Trade-Off Between the Selling Price of Residential Properties and Time-on-the-Market: The Impact of Price Setting," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 95-111, January.
    5. Michail Kagioglou & Rachel Cooper & Ghassan Aouad, 2001. "Performance management in construction: a conceptual framework," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 85-95, January.
    6. Nelson, Phillip, 1970. "Information and Consumer Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(2), pages 311-329, March-Apr.
    7. Thomas Palfrey & Thomas Romer, 1983. "Warranties, Performance, and the Resolution of Buyer-Seller Disputes," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 97-117, Spring.
    8. Jun Chen & Ronald Rutherford, 2012. "Quality & Time-on-the-Market in Residential Markets," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 414-428, April.
    9. Jing Wu & Yongheng Deng & Hongyu Liu, 2014. "House Price Index Construction in the Nascent Housing Market: The Case of China," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 522-545, April.
    10. Ooi, Joseph T.L. & Le, Thao T.T. & Lee, Nai-Jia, 2014. "The impact of construction quality on house prices," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 126-138.
    11. Kenneth F. Wieand, 1983. "The Performance of Annual Housing Survey Quality Measures in Explaining Dwelling Rentals in 20 Metropolitan Areas," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 11(1), pages 45-68, March.
    12. Carl Shapiro, 1983. "Premiums for High Quality Products as Returns to Reputations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(4), pages 659-679.
    13. Deng, Yongheng & Wu, Jing, 2014. "Economic returns to residential green building investment: The developers' perspective," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 35-44.
    14. Nils Kok & Marquise McGraw & John M. Quigley, 2011. "The Diffusion of Energy Efficiency in Building," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 77-82, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yi-Kai Juan & I-Chieh Lin, 2018. "Optimal Cost–Quality Trade-Off Model for Differentiating Presale Housing Quality Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Lepkova Natalija & Vilutienė Tatjana & Bełej Miroslaw & Putek-Szeląg Ewa & Źróbek Sabina, 2017. "Comparative Analysis of Newly-Built Housing Quality in Poland and Lithuania," Real Estate Management and Valuation, Sciendo, vol. 25(4), pages 85-98, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Li & Sun, Cong & Liu, Hongyu & Zheng, Siqi, 2016. "The role of public information in increasing homebuyers' willingness-to-pay for green housing: Evidence from Beijing," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 40-49.
    2. Li Zhang & Hongyu Liu & Jing Wu, 2017. "The price premium for green-labelled housing: Evidence from China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(15), pages 3524-3541, November.
    3. Deng, Yongheng & Wu, Jing, 2014. "Economic returns to residential green building investment: The developers' perspective," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 35-44.
    4. Liao, Wen-Chi & Zhao, Daxuan, 2019. "The selection and quantile treatment effects on the economic returns of green buildings," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 38-48.
    5. Chegut, Andrea & Eichholtz, Piet & Kok, Nils, 2019. "The price of innovation: An analysis of the marginal cost of green buildings," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Kahn, Matthew E. & Walsh, Randall, 2015. "Cities and the Environment," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 405-465, Elsevier.
    7. Fuerst, Franz & Warren-Myers, Georgia, 2018. "Does voluntary disclosure create a green lemon problem? Energy-efficiency ratings and house prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Fesselmeyer, Eric, 2018. "The value of green certification in the Singapore housing market," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 36-39.
    9. Steffen Westermann & Scott Niblock & Michael Kortt, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility and the performance of Australian REITs: a rolling regression approach," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 222-234, July.
    10. Zheng, Siqi & Wu, Jing & Kahn, Matthew E. & Deng, Yongheng, 2012. "The nascent market for “green” real estate in Beijing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(5), pages 974-984.
    11. Copiello, Sergio, 2017. "Building energy efficiency: A research branch made of paradoxes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1064-1076.
    12. Prashant Das & Jonathan A. Wiley, 2014. "Determinants of premia for energy-efficient design in the office market," Journal of Property Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 64-86, March.
    13. Steffen Westermann & Scott J. Niblock & Michael A. Kortt, 2018. "A Review of Corporate Social Responsibility and Real Estate Investment Trust Studies: An Australian Perspective," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 37(1), pages 92-110, March.
    14. Yi-Kai Juan & I-Chieh Lin, 2018. "Optimal Cost–Quality Trade-Off Model for Differentiating Presale Housing Quality Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, March.
    15. Glaeser, Edward L., 2014. "Understanding housing: The intellectual legacy of John Quigley," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 3-12.
    16. Ooi, Joseph T.L. & Le, Thao T.T. & Lee, Nai-Jia, 2014. "The impact of construction quality on house prices," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 126-138.
    17. Catherine Baumont & Masha Maslianskaia-Pautrel & Pierre Voyé, 2019. "Hedonic estimation of the green value of residential housing," Working Papers 2019.20, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    18. Kahn, Matthew E. & Kok, Nils, 2014. "The capitalization of green labels in the California housing market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 25-34.
    19. Yong Tu, 2018. "Urban debates for climate change after the Kyoto Protocol," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(1), pages 3-18, January.
    20. Florian Fizaine Fizaine & Pierre Voye & Catherine Baumont, 2018. "Les études hédoniques soutiennent-elles une valeur verte élevée dans le bâtiment ? Une réponse par la méta-analyse," Post-Print halshs-01957447, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Construction quality; Housing price premium; Financial sustainability; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:57:y:2016:i:c:p:46-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/regec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.