Exploring linkages between housing submarkets: theory, evidence and policy implications
Jones, Colin
Exploring linkages between housing submarkets: theory, evidence and policy implications - London RICS 1999
In the 1950s and 1960s a group of housing economists at Columbia University developed a framework for the analyses of urban housing markets which was based around the concept of housing submarkets (see, inter alia, Rapkin et al, 1953; Grigsby, 1963). Although more recently there has been widespread agreement amongst housing economists that submarkets should be adopted as a working hypothesis (Maclennan, 1982; Quigley, 1980; Rothenberg et al, 1991; Galster, 1996), the concept has often been ignored in applied studies where hedonic theory and the Alonso-Muth access-space framework have provided the empirical foundations. In this paper, we seek to demonstrate the usefulness of this framework in exploring the dynamics of urban housing markets. The paper is developed in a number of stages. First, we consider the implications of submarket existence for the way we theorise the operation of urban markets. Second, building on the submarket structure revealed in a recent empirical study of the Glasgow housing market (Watkins, 1998), we use a uniquely detailed data set of more than 10,000 transactions, to examine the linkages between submarkets. Specifically, the analysis examines the position of submarkets within the city's price structure, and the movements of residents between submarkets. Thirdly, we consider the policy implications of this analysis. In particular, the results allow us to consider the extent to which filtering takes place, and to consider the impact housing policy initiatives (including the Right to Buy) have had on household mobility patterns and the structure and operation of urban housing markets more generally. In the concluding section, we reflect on the usefulness of the submarket concept as a basis for understanding the dynamics of local housing markets. This item is no longer available.
Exploring linkages between housing submarkets: theory, evidence and policy implications - London RICS 1999
In the 1950s and 1960s a group of housing economists at Columbia University developed a framework for the analyses of urban housing markets which was based around the concept of housing submarkets (see, inter alia, Rapkin et al, 1953; Grigsby, 1963). Although more recently there has been widespread agreement amongst housing economists that submarkets should be adopted as a working hypothesis (Maclennan, 1982; Quigley, 1980; Rothenberg et al, 1991; Galster, 1996), the concept has often been ignored in applied studies where hedonic theory and the Alonso-Muth access-space framework have provided the empirical foundations. In this paper, we seek to demonstrate the usefulness of this framework in exploring the dynamics of urban housing markets. The paper is developed in a number of stages. First, we consider the implications of submarket existence for the way we theorise the operation of urban markets. Second, building on the submarket structure revealed in a recent empirical study of the Glasgow housing market (Watkins, 1998), we use a uniquely detailed data set of more than 10,000 transactions, to examine the linkages between submarkets. Specifically, the analysis examines the position of submarkets within the city's price structure, and the movements of residents between submarkets. Thirdly, we consider the policy implications of this analysis. In particular, the results allow us to consider the extent to which filtering takes place, and to consider the impact housing policy initiatives (including the Right to Buy) have had on household mobility patterns and the structure and operation of urban housing markets more generally. In the concluding section, we reflect on the usefulness of the submarket concept as a basis for understanding the dynamics of local housing markets. This item is no longer available.