Within-City House Price Distribution, Heterogeneity and Diffusion : Evidence from a Spatiotemporal Index for Beijing

Understanding the within-city house price distribution, heterogeneity and diffusion is essential for understanding the dynamics of city-level housing markets, but these issues have not been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, we construct a constant-quality spatiotemporal house price index for Beijing's resale housing market between 2011 and 2015, and use this index to examine the within-city house price patterns in this superstar city. The revealed spatial distribution of local house price levels shows plausible structures and evolution. Additionally, local house price changes show significant heterogeneity in terms of both price trends and structural breakpoints. We also find that local house price changes diffuse into neighboring areas. These findings deliver deep insights into within-city housing markets and have important implications for urban planning and housing investment