William A. V. Clark - Modelling Housing Market Search

Routledge Revivals

Originally published in 1982, this book contains research in the area of econometric modelling in the housing market, including that which has extended to the use of search models. The subjects covered include the importance of racial differences, spatial aspects of residential search and information provision and its effect on the behaviour of the buyers. The combination of careful analytic modelling, empirical testing and speculative discussions of the role of agents in the search process provides an innovative and imaginative approach to the interesting problems of understanding the individual behaviour in complex contexts such as the urban housing market.

Edited by W. A. V. Clark

First published in 1982

by Croom Helm Ltd

This edition first published in 2021 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1982 W. A. V. Clark

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists at LCCN:82000872

ISBN 13: 978-1-032-02143-0 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-003-18208-5 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003182085

Edited by W. A. V. Clark

1982 W. A. V. Clark

Croom Helm Ltd, 2-10 St Johns Road, London SW11

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Clark, William, A. V.

Modelling housing market search.

1. HousingMathematical models

I. Title

339.4836350724 HD7287.5

ISBN 0-7099-0726-5

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Biddles Ltd., Guildford and Kings Lynn

The papers in this volume were originally prepared for a seminar on housing market search held at the University of California, Los Angeles, during May of 1980. The papers presented at that seminar have since been substantially revised and extended and additional papers on housing search have been added to the collection. The seminar was sponsored by the Institute for Social Science Research at U.C.L.A. and held in association with a graduate course on migration and mobility. It was designed to bring together geographers, economists, sociologists, and planners to discuss the fast-developing field of residential search. The emphases included both theoretical and empirical aspects of search in the housing market as well as the policy implications of studies of search.

Several geographers and demographers in Southern California and the sabbatical visit of Eric Moore from Queens University provided a nucleus of individuals interested in residential mobility and search. The group was augmented with invitations to John Goodman and Francis Cronin of the Urban Institute, Duncan Maclennan of the Center for Urban and Regional Research at the University of Glasgow, James Huff from the Department of Geography at the University of Illinois, and Risa Palm from the University of Colorado. This combination of disciplinary approaches allowed a rich interchange of both theoretical and empirical perspectives.

The papers include an extensive review of search models and their applications to search in the housing market and several conceptual and theoretical models of search, including the formulation of one of the first explicitly spatial models of search. Other papers focused on the role of information in search and possible policy responses to housing market search. One of the major purposes of this volume is to provide a readily accessible collection of major works which are representative of the ongoing research in this rapidly developing area.

The conference would not have been possible without the support of the Institute for Social Science Research and I would like to thank the director, Howard Freeman, for making available funds for research on residential mobility and migration. I would also like to thank the Department of Geography at U.C.L.A., especially Noel Diaz for cartographic services in preparing the manuscript.

Los Angeles, California William Clark

DOI: 10.4324/9781003182085-1

The chapters in this book have been divided into two broad sections. The first of these sections focuses on models of search behavior. The second is concerned with the nature of information and its influence on search behavior. The chapters in the first part of the book are organized to review the general nature of search models, and particularly, their application to search in the housing market, to present a conceptual approach to housing search, and specific analytic models of the search for housing. The papers represent general conceptual and specific analytic models and empirical tests of the models. They are representative of the latest thinking on applied residential search models in geography and economics.

While the work by economists on job search stimulated the development of a variety of econometric models of search behavior, most of this work focused on stopping rule models and has had only limited application to search in the housing market. The economic research emphasized equilibrium analysis and the clearing conditions in the market. Recently, specific studies of housing market search have attempted to develop more realistic models of search behavior. The first chapter organizes previous analyses of housing market search into six categories, two of which are concerned with disequilibrium models of search, another focuses on stopping rule models, and the other three focus on the analysis of institutional constraints on search, the role of information, and specific studies of spatial search in the housing market. The chapter argues that much of the research has been cross-sectional and emphasized either utility maximizing approaches or institutional intervention. However, the most recent research is clearly focused on the central role of information in search behavior. As an overview the review sets up a basis for the more specific chapters which follow. Kevin McCarthy outlines a conceptual model of housing search and mobility, Gavin Wood and Duncan Maclennan discuss search adjustment in the local housing market of Glasgow, Frank Cronin analyses racial differences in the search for housing and Jim Huff models the spatial aspects of residential search.