IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/wpaper/04-06.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Location, Location, Location: The 3L Approach to House Price Determination

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey Zabel
  • Katherine Kiel

Abstract

The immobility of houses means that their location affects their values. This explains the common belief that three things determine the price of a house: location, location, and location. We use this notion to develop the 3L Approach to house price determination. That is, prices are determined by the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), town, and street where the house is located. This study creates a unique data set based on data from the American Housing Survey (AHS) consisting of small ‘clusters’ of housing units with information on their housing characteristics and resident characteristics that is merged with census tract-level attributes. We use this data to verify the 3L Approach: we find that all three levels of location are significant when estimating the house price hedonic equation. This indicates that individuals care about their local neighborhood, i.e. the general upkeep of their street and possibly their neighbors’ characteristics (cluster variables), a broader area such as the school district and/or the town (tract variables) that account for school quality and crime rates, and the particular amenities found in their MSA.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey Zabel & Katherine Kiel, 2004. "Location, Location, Location: The 3L Approach to House Price Determination," Working Papers 04-06, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:04-06
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2004/CES-WP-04-06.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2004
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shultz, Steven D & King, David A, 2001. "The Use of Census Data for Hedonic Price Estimates of Open-Space Amenities and Land Use," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2-3), pages 239-252, March-May.
    2. Gyourko, Joseph & Tracy, Joseph, 1991. "The Structure of Local Public Finance and the Quality of Life," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 774-806, August.
    3. Yannis M. Ioannides & Jeffrey E. Zabel, 2003. "Neighbourhood effects and housing demand," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(5), pages 563-584.
    4. Goodman, John Jr. & Ittner, John B., 1992. "The accuracy of home owners' estimates of house value," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 339-357, December.
    5. Clapp, John M. & Wang, Yazhen, 2006. "Defining neighborhood boundaries: Are census tracts obsolete?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 259-284, March.
    6. Hardman, Anna & Ioannides, Yannis M., 2004. "Neighbors' income distribution: economic segregation and mixing in US urban neighborhoods," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 368-382, December.
    7. DiPasquale, Denise & Somerville, C. Tsuriel, 1995. "Do House Price Indices Based on Transacting Units Represent the Entire Stock? Evidence from the American Housing Survey," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 195-229, September.
    8. Ioannides, Yannis M. & Zabel, Jeffrey E., 2008. "Interactions, neighborhood selection and housing demand," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 229-252, January.
    9. Ioannides, Yannis M., 2002. "Residential neighborhood effects," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 145-165, March.
    10. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    11. Myers, Caitlin Knowles, 2004. "Discrimination and neighborhood effects: understanding racial differentials in US housing prices," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 279-302, September.
    12. Anna Hardman & Yannis Ioannides, 2004. "Income Mixing and Housing in U.S. Cities: Evidence from Neighborhood Clusters of the American Housing Survey," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0420, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    13. Zabel, Jeffrey E, 1999. "Controlling for Quality in House Price Indices," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 223-241, November.
    14. Murphy, Kevin M & Topel, Robert H, 2002. "Estimation and Inference in Two-Step Econometric Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 88-97, January.
    15. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    16. Palmquist, Raymond B., 1982. "Measuring environmental effects on property values without hedonic regressions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 333-347, May.
    17. Kiel, Katherine A. & Zabel, Jeffrey E., 1996. "House Price Differentials in U.S. Cities: Household and Neighborhood Racial Effects," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 143-165, June.
    18. Gabriel, Stuart A. & Rosenthal, Stuart S., 1996. "Commutes, Neighborhood Effects, and Earnings: An Analysis of Racial Discrimination and Compensating Differentials," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 61-83, July.
    19. Allen C. Goodman, 1977. "A Comparison of Block Group and Census Tract Data in a Hedonic Housing Price Model," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(4), pages 483-487.
    20. Sieg, Holger & Smith, V. Kerry & Banzhaf, H. Spencer & Walsh, Randy, 2002. "Interjurisdictional housing prices in locational equilibrium," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 131-153, July.
    21. Roback, Jennifer, 1982. "Wages, Rents, and the Quality of Life," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(6), pages 1257-1278, December.
    22. Strange, William, 1992. "Overlapping neighborhoods and housing externalities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 17-39, July.
    23. Mills, Edwin S. & Simenauer, Ronald, 1996. "New Hedonic Estimates of Regional Constant Quality House Prices," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 209-215, March.
    24. Schelling, Thomas C, 1969. "Models of Segregation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 488-493, May.
    25. Mingche M. Li & H. James Brown, 1980. "Micro-Neighborhood Externalities and Hedonic Housing Prices," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(2), pages 125-141.
    26. Hoyt, William H. & Rosenthal, Stuart S., 1997. "Household Location and Tiebout: Do Families Sort According to Preferences for Locational Amenities?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 159-178, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ioannides, Yannis M. & Zabel, Jeffrey E., 2008. "Interactions, neighborhood selection and housing demand," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 229-252, January.
    2. Ioannides, Yannis M., 2003. "Interactive property valuations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 145-170, January.
    3. Ioannides, Yannis M., 2002. "Residential neighborhood effects," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 145-165, March.
    4. Nicolai V. Kuminoff & V. Kerry Smith & Christopher Timmins, 2010. "The New Economics of Equilibrium Sorting and its Transformational Role for Policy Evaluation," NBER Working Papers 16349, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Clément Bellet, 2017. "Essays on Inequality, Social Preferences and Consumer Behavior," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/vbu6kd1s68o, Sciences Po.
    6. Katherine Kiel, 2006. "Environmental Contamination and House Values," Working Papers 0601, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    7. Clément S. Bellet, 2017. "The paradox of the Joneses: superstar houses and mortgage frenzy in suburban America," CEP Discussion Papers dp1462, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Clément Bellet, 2017. "Essays on inequality, social preferences and consumer behavior [Inégalités, préférences sociales et comportement du consommateur]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03455045, HAL.
    9. Li Yin, 2009. "The Dynamics of Residential Segregation in Buffalo: An Agent-based Simulation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(13), pages 2749-2770, December.
    10. Teulings, Coen N. & Ossokina, Ioulia V. & de Groot, Henri L.F., 2018. "Land use, worker heterogeneity and welfare benefits of public goods," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 67-82.
    11. Clément Bellet, 2017. "Essays on inequality, social preferences and consumer behavior [Inégalités, préférences sociales et comportement du consommateur]," SciencePo Working papers tel-03455045, HAL.
    12. Bellet, Clement, 2017. "The paradox of the Joneses: superstar houses andmortgage frenzy in suburban America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69044, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Lall, Somik V. & Lundberg, Mattias, 2008. "What are public services worth, and to whom? Non-parametric estimation of capitalization in Pune," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 34-64, March.
    14. Yannis M. Ioannides & Jeffrey E. Zabel, 2003. "Neighbourhood effects and housing demand," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(5), pages 563-584.
    15. Nicolai V. Kuminoff & V. Kerry Smith & Christopher Timmins, 2013. "The New Economics of Equilibrium Sorting and Policy Evaluation Using Housing Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(4), pages 1007-1062, December.
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/vbu6kd1s68o6r34k5bcm3iopv is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Leung, Tin Cheuk & Tsang, Kwok Ping, 2012. "Love thy neighbor: Income distribution and housing preferences," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 322-335.
    18. Dionysia Lambiri & Bianca Biagi & Vicente Royuela, 2007. "Quality of Life in the Economic and Urban Economic Literature," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 1-25, October.
    19. Yannis M. Ioannides, 2010. "Neighborhood Effects and Housing," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0747, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    20. Andrea Baranzini & Caroline Schaerer & José V. Ramirez & Philippe Thalmann, 2008. "Do Foreigners Pay Higher Rents for the Same Quality of Housing in Geneva and Zurich?," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 144(IV), pages 703-730, December.
    21. Ronan Lyons, 2012. "Search costs, sorting and “property ladder†effects: Evidence from the valuation of amenities," ERSA conference papers ersa12p511, European Regional Science Association.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cen:wpaper:04-06. 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: Dawn Anderson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesgvus.html .

    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.