1st Edition

Behavioural Science and Housing Decision Making A Case Study Approach

By Helen Bao Copyright 2020
    166 Pages 23 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    166 Pages 23 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book takes a behavioural approach to examine six important housing questions: tenure decision, gentrification, place attachment, housing bubbles, housing wealth, and residential satisfaction.

    Using experimental and field data, the book demonstrates the effects of six behavioural biases and heuristics (i.e., anchoring and reference dependence, loss aversion, mental accounting, endowment effect, herd behaviours, and social comparison) on these housing decisions. The first part of the book introduces the questions and provides a behavioural science toolbox before the second part adopts a real-world case study approach. Real data sets and suggested answers are provided, and the cases come from the UK, USA, and China. Background information is given in each case to facilitate the understanding of the case data and question, as well as the discussions on the results.

    This book is ideal supplementary reading on a variety of courses such as housing studies, economics, real estate, research methods, and for students and academics who are interested in the application of behavioural science in housing decisions.

    1. Introduction

    2. Six Important Housing Questions

    1. Tenure decision
    2. Neighbours/community/gentrification
    3. Housing price/market equilibrium
    4. Housing cycle
    5. Housing wealth effect
    6. Housing satisfaction

    3. Behaviour Science Toolbox

    1. Market sentiment
    2. Anchoring effect/reference dependence
    3. Loss aversion/endowment effect
    4. Framing effect
    5. Mental accounting
    6. Social comparison

    4. Case 1 Homeownership: Housing provision fund case from China

    5. Case 2 Gentrification: Mega-event and housing market in China: The case of the 2008 Olympic Games

    6. Case 3 Endowment effect: Endowment effect in housing market: Field evidence from China

    7. Case 4 Housing cycle: Market sentiment and housing market: evidence from the UK, USA, and Hong Kong

    8. Case 5 Housing wealth effect: Housing wealth effect and energy consumption: Evidence from the UK

    9. Case 6 Housing satisfaction: Housing satisfaction and social comparison in the UK

    10. Conclusions

    Biography

    Helen Bao is a Fellow in Land Economy, Newnham College, and a Senior Lecturer in Real Estate Finance and Director of International Relations, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK.

    ‘This pioneering book opens up behavioural analysis of housing to new audiences.’ Dr Richard Dunning, University of Liverpool