Does an Urban Wilderness Promote Gentrification? A Case Study from Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

The Knoxville Urban Wilderness (KUW) is a successful example of a growing global movement to utilize vacant urban land as many cities “de-urbanize”. A key question is whether this particular kind of green space promotes social inequality via green gentrification. Our analysis shows how the KUW has affected nearby home prices. Socioeconomic data including income, educational attainment, and race is also presented to explore the possibility of gentrification in South Knoxville. Our findings do not support strong evidence of gentrification, which implies that lower-income households are benefiting from advances in environmental amenities. Other households in specific areas are benefiting from both increases in home values and from expansions of the KUW. These are encouraging results for urban planning efforts that seek to utilize large areas of vacant urban land while also having positive social and economic impacts.

COVID-19 and Second Home Prices in Switzerland: An Empirical Insight

During the COVID-19 pandemic, second home ownership created several owner benefits. This paper analyses price changes of second homes during the pandemic. It derives propositions for the impact of the pandemic on the value of second homes for its owners. The contribution draws on panel data of transaction prices for second homes from Switzerland, a country with traditionally strong second home ownership, provided by Wüest Partner. The results show that there is a significant price increase for second homes – especially compared to apartments – after the start of the COVID-19 crisis. They also show that prices even in certain second-class destinations have risen significantly during the pandemic. Different research propositions are derived like that buyers might look for less crowded places in the pandemic, and the reduced benefits of intensive infrastructures during a pandemic.

Informing Policy from Prices: An Overview of California Nursing Homes

Introduction: The rising cost of healthcare along with the aging demographic requires the attention of policy makers. The United States’ nursing home industry is costly to older adults, requiring many to resort to government funded Medicare to offset these costs. This study aims to understand determinants of nursing home prices in the state of California. Variables included in the analysis are selected based on previous literature on the costs of nursing homes in the US. Methods: The data were analyzed using a multi-variable regression analysis. The analysis sample included 1,121 nursing homes across California, using facility level and governmental data that is publically available for the years of 2016-2017. Data collected included financial indicators (net income), ownership (for-profit, non-profit) represented as a dummy variable, occupancy rates, reimbursement rates (Medicare & Medicaid), staffing, quality and competition variables such as nursing homes per county. Results: The regression analysis indicated that ownership type (for-profit), competition and occupancy rates have a negative significant effect on nursing home prices. Whereas, reimbursement rates of both Medicare and Medicaid, home income and staffing levels have a positive significant effect, driving further nursing home prices. Conclusion: The study aimed to understand the relevant variables that influence nursing home prices in the state of Califronia. The regression analysis yielded significant results for various factors including reimbursement rates, occupancy rates and the number of nursing homes per county. However, a notable limitation to the study is the inability to generalize these factors to the rest of the US due to state specific health policies. Determinants such as reimbursement rates and nursing homes per county vary by governmental decisions, therefore, a comprehensive policy tool could be designed to alter nursing home costs through state health policies.

Homeownership for All: An American Narrative

The narrative of homeownership for all citizens is a uniquely American story. Narrative economics is a field that studies the spread of stories to explain economic fluctuations. We quantitatively examine the relationship between the American housing narrative and the run-up in home prices experienced since the Great Recession in the United States. We rely on a natural language processing (NLP) framework to measure the sentiment associated with the narrative. We then use a panel vector autoregression to empirically model the relationship between home prices and homeownership sentiment in the United States. We find that sentiment related to the American homeownership narrative is an important factor in explaining movements in home prices even after taking into account the economic factors typically thought to explain home price fluctuations. Though others have examined the role of sentiment in markets, our study is the first to empirically measure the American homeownership narrative. While this is a narrative promoted at the national level, future research might examine whether sentiment related to homeownership varies across this diverse nation.

Exploit the Ocean for Extra Housing Supply: A Comparison between the Floating House and Houseboat

The rapid development of coastal areas often leads to housing shortage, subsequently resulting in poor living quality and unaffordable home prices. People thus start to set their sights on the sea. The floating house and houseboat are unique alternative solutions to the said housing crisis in major coastal cities. This article reviews and compares the characteristics of the floating house and houseboat and recommended a few directions for preliminary works that should be completed before launching these kinds of housing projects in coastal waters.

Exploit the Ocean for Extra Housing Supply: A Comparison between the Floating House and Houseboat

The rapid development of coastal areas often leads to housing shortage, subsequently resulting in poor living quality and unaffordable home prices. People thus start to set their sights on the sea. The floating house and houseboat are unique alternative solutions to the said housing crisis in major coastal cities. This article reviews and compares the characteristics of the floating house and houseboat and recommended a few directions for preliminary works that should be completed before launching these kinds of housing projects in coastal waters.