Higher land-use intensity can be achieved by subdividing the land or by subdividing the structure built on it. The former avoids co-ownership but is subject to topographical constraints, whereas the latter (e.g. apartment units) uses each unit of land more efficiently but entails management of...

Due to the heterogeneous nature of real estate, the construction of a transaction based real estate price index is not a trivial task. This paper introduces the concept of a constant quality real estate price index that reflects the general price trend that is not affected by the quality of the...

Sale before completion (i.e. presale) is a common practice that real estate developers use to sell residential units. Since presale buyers are unable to inspect uncompleted units, developers may take advantage of asymmetric information and release information about quality to the market...

A growing number of mainland Chinese real estate firms went public over the past decade. Some floated their shares in Hong Kong, while others were listed on mainland stock exchanges. This paper empirically examines the determinants of their initial public offering (IPO) location choice. Based on...

If carefully planned, urban renewal may play an important role in regenerating a decaying neighborhood and mitigating the negative externality generated by dilapidated buildings in densely populated areas. Despite its potential benefits, in urban areas dominated by high-rise developments, urban...

Occupancy discount is a long-accepted doctrine in literature. Search theory supports such a proposition, but empirical evidence is mixed. This study revisits this dilemma and puts forward an alternative argument that a landlord may exploit sitting tenants who have made non-redeployable...

The profiteering developer is a common figure in debates over housing policy. Governments increasingly use developer profits to justify policies like inclusionary housing. Yet, we actually understand little about the competitiveness of housing development. One unresolved question is whether...

In debating sustainable development issues such as climate changes and nuclear waste disposal, policymakers usually base their decisions on cost-and-benefit analysis (CBA), which evaluates tradeoffs between costs and benefits spanning over a century. Fundamental to this approach is the choice of...

The paper examines how building height is determined in the absence of building height regulatory restrictions. A model is developed for determining optimal height using simple neo-classical economic analysis; this is then tested using empirical data from Hong Kong. The results show that the...

How shocks in one market influence the returns and volatility of other markets has been an important question for portfolio managers. In the finance literature, many studies found evidence of volatility spillovers across international markets, as well as between spot and futures markets....