Essays on housing market behavior analysis within the international context.

摘要

This dissertation consists of three essays on urban economics and housing market, emphasizing on market behavior within an international context. Chapter One comprises an analysis of the optimal selling strategy in a market with price dispersion using the central Tokyo condominium resale market list data from 1994 to 2002. The optimal pricing strategy is chosen to maximize the return from search. Higher price dispersion leads to higher reservation and optimal asking prices, which in turn results in higher expected sales prices. Under the assumption that the offering prices follow a normal distribution, market price dispersion can increase the probability of a successful transaction and/or speed up the sale process for the overpriced properties.; Chapter Two includes a discussion of the transitional residential mortgage market in China using a unique micro dataset depicting the mortgage loan history in Beijing. While the option theory failed to explain prepayment and the default behavior in current Chinese residential mortgage markets, other non-option theory related financial economic factors play major roles. Short term mortgage borrowers are more likely to prepay. Many borrowers choose to pay off mortgage debts in bear market. Unemployment rate is positively associated with mortgage prepayment rate. Borrower's characteristics, such as income, education, marital status, etc., are significant in determining prepayment and default behaviors, hence may be used as an effective tool to screen potential high risk borrowers.; Chapter Three examines the impact of mobile home parks rent control on mobile home resale prices by using transaction data from seven California counties between 1983 and 2003. The imposition of rigid rent control (rent control without vacancy decontrol) leads to higher growth rates in resale prices; while a flexible regime, or rent control with vacancy decontrol, results in lower growth rates in resale prices. It suggests that the imposition of rigid rent control will lead to the capitalization of future rent savings when a coach is sold. That is, the buyer will not only pay for the coach but also for the net present value of the expected savings associated with the future of legally constrained rent obligations to the landlord.