IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wvu/wpaper/17-20.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Some Remarks on Real Estate Pricing

Author

Listed:
  • Cocker Liu

    (Cornell University)

  • Adam Nowak

    (West Virginia University, Department of Economics)

  • Patrick Smith

    (San Diego State University)

Abstract

This paper develops a framework for addressing the omitted variable bias that plagues most real estate research. We incorporate qualitative information from text to control for property attributes that are generally unobserved. The textual information is entered by real estate agents for every property sold on a Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The agents, who arguably have the most local market and property specific knowledge, use the unstructured text to highlight important information that is not clearly conveyed in other areas of the listing. Although the framework can be applied universally in real estate research, we demonstrate its effectiveness in the estimation of agent-owned sales premiums. Similar to previous studies, we find agent-owned premiums between 2% to 6% when no textual information is included. When we include the textual information the agent-owned premiums dissipate. The results suggest that the market distortions reported in Rutherford et al. [2005] and Levitt and Syverson [2008] do not exist.

Suggested Citation

  • Cocker Liu & Adam Nowak & Patrick Smith, 2017. "Some Remarks on Real Estate Pricing," Working Papers 17-20, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    • Handle: RePEc:wvu:wpaper:17-20
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://busecon.wvu.edu/phd_economics/pdf/17-20.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven D. Levitt & Chad Syverson, 2008. "Market Distortions When Agents Are Better Informed: The Value of Information in Real Estate Transactions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 599-611, November.
    2. Patrick Bayer & Fernando Ferreira & Robert McMillan, 2007. "A Unified Framework for Measuring Preferences for Schools and Neighborhoods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(4), pages 588-638, August.
    3. Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen & Martin Spindler, 2015. "Post-Selection and Post-Regularization Inference in Linear Models with Many Controls and Instruments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 486-490, May.
    4. Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Velma Zahirovic‐Herbert, 2011. "Why Do Vacant Houses Sell for Less: Holding Costs, Bargaining Power or Stigma?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 39(1), pages 19-43, March.
    5. Rutherford, R.C. & Springer, T.M. & Yavas, A., 2005. "Conflicts between principals and agents: evidence from residential brokerage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 627-665, June.
    6. Alexandre Belloni & Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen, 2014. "Inference on Treatment Effects after Selection among High-Dimensional Controlsâ€," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 608-650.
    7. Adam Nowak & Patrick Smith, 2017. "Textual Analysis in Real Estate," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 896-918, June.
    8. John P. Harding & John R. Knight & C.F. Sirmans, 2003. "Estimating Bargaining Effects in Hedonic Models: Evidence from the Housing Market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 31(4), pages 601-622, December.
    9. Itzhak Ben-David, 2011. "Financial Constraints and Inflated Home Prices during the Real Estate Boom," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 55-87, July.
    10. Genesove, David, 1993. "Adverse Selection in the Wholesale Used Car Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(4), pages 644-665, August.
    11. Matt Taddy, 2013. "Multinomial Inverse Regression for Text Analysis," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(503), pages 755-770, September.
    12. Meese, Richard A & Wallace, Nancy E, 1997. "The Construction of Residential Housing Price Indices: A Comparison of Repeat-Sales, Hedonic-Regression and Hybrid Approaches," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 14(1-2), pages 51-73, Jan.-Marc.
    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. Crocker H. Liu & Adam Nowak & Patrick S. Smith, 2018. "Does the Asset Pricing Premium Reflect Asymmetric or Incomplete Information?," Working Papers 18-06, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    2. Lily Shen & Stephen L. Ross, 2019. "Information Value of Property Description: A Machine Learning Approach," Working papers 2019-20, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Sep 2020.
    3. Cynthia Holmes & Jia Xie, 2018. "Distortions in Real Estate Transactions with Out-of-State Participants," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 592-617, November.
    4. Velma Zahirovic-Herbert & Bennie D. Waller & Geoffrey K. Turnbull, 2020. "Properties that Sell at or above Listing Price: Strategic Pricing, Better Broker or Just Dumb Luck?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 53-76, February.
    5. Kimberly F. Luchtenberg & Michael J. Seiler & Hua Sun, 2019. "Listing Agent Signals: Does a Picture Paint a Thousand Words?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 617-648, November.
    6. Nowak, Adam & Sayago-Gomez, Juan, 2018. "Homeowner preferences after September 11th, a microdata approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 330-351.
    7. Ralph B. Siebert & Michael J. Seiler, 2022. "Why Do Buyers Pay Different Prices for Comparable Products? A Structural Approach on the Housing Market," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 261-292, August.
    8. Xun Bian & Justin C. Contat & Bennie D. Waller & Scott A. Wentland, 2023. "Why Disclose Less Information? Toward Resolving a Disclosure Puzzle in the Housing Market," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 443-486, February.
    9. Adam D. Nowak & Bradley S. Price & Patrick S. Smith, 2021. "Real Estate Dictionaries Across Space and Time," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 139-163, January.
    10. Daniel Broxterman & Tingyu Zhou, 2023. "Information Frictions in Real Estate Markets: Recent Evidence and Issues," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 203-298, February.
    11. Crocker H. Liu & Patrick S. Smith, 2023. "School quality as a catalyst for bidding wars and new housing development," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(4), pages 785-818, July.
    12. Donner, Herman & Kopsch, Fredrik, 2016. "Housing Tenure and Informational Asymmetries," Working Paper Series 16/3, Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Real Estate and Construction Management & Banking and Finance.
    13. Xun Bian & Raymond Brastow & Bennie Waller & Scott Wentland, 2021. "Foreclosure Externalities and Home Liquidity," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 876-916, September.
    14. Hamilton Fout & Nuno Mota & Eric Rosenblatt, 2022. "When Appraisers Go Low, Contracts Go Lower: The Impact of Expert Opinions on Transaction Prices," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 451-491, October.
    15. Darren K. Hayunga & Henry J. Munneke, 2021. "Examining Both Sides of the Transaction: Bargaining in the Housing Market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(2), pages 663-691, June.
    16. Ralph Siebert & Michael J. Seiler, 2020. "Why Do Buyers Pay Different Prices for Comparable Products? Evidence from the Housing Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 8337, CESifo.
    17. Seung‐Hyun Hong, 2022. "Real estate agents' influence on housing search," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 563-582, April.
    18. Shen, Lily & Ross, Stephen, 2021. "Information value of property description: A Machine learning approach," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Gautier, Pieter A. & Siegmann, Arjen & Van Vuuren, Aico, 2009. "Terrorism and attitudes towards minorities: The effect of the Theo van Gogh murder on house prices in Amsterdam," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 113-126, March.
    20. Gautier, Pieter & van Vuuren, Aico & Siegmann, Arjen, 2007. "The Effect of the Theo van Gogh Murder on House Prices in Amsterdam," CEPR Discussion Papers 6175, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Omitted variable bias; textual analysis; agent-owned; agency problem;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • R33 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Nonagricultural and Nonresidential Real Estate 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:wvu:wpaper:17-20. 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: Feng Yao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dewvuus.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.