Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis Affect Housing Prices Evenly in the U.S.?

Spatial Analysis and Modeling of the Housing Value Changes in the U.S. during the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has affected almost all sectors of the economy, including the real estate markets across different countries in the world. A rich body of literature has emerged in analyzing real estate market trends and revealing important information. However, few studies have used a spatial perspective to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on property values. The main purposes of this study are as follows: (1) to explore the spatial distribution and spatial patterns of housing price changes during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in the U.S. real estate market and (2) to model the spatially nonstationary relationships between the housing price change and COVID-19 characteristics. We find that housing price changes differ across space and appear associated with the spatial distribution of the COVID-19 case rates. The housing market volatility is amplified by the uneven distribution of some socioeconomic factors. The spatially uneven housing price changes may bring an uneven spillover effect to the rest of the economy and lead to divergence in economic growth across different areas.

An Assessment Methodology for the Evaluation of the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Italian Housing Market Demand

Due to the forced changes that the COVID-19 pandemic has had in many aspects of ordinary life (working, social life, training and learning in schools etc.), the characteristics of domestic spaces have significantly modified buying, selling and renting decisions in the real estate market. The aim of this research was to structure a methodology, articulated into four steps, to assess the variation that has occurred in residential market demand as a result of COVID-19 anti-contagion measures, with regard to six metropolitan Italian cities. We considered two samples of properties for each city, the first referencing the pre-COVID-19 pandemic spread and the second collected in the current situation. Consequently, we were able to determine variations in residential market appreciations through the application of a regressive econometric technique. The obtained results highlighted the relevance assumed by indoor acoustic and thermal comfort property factors, compared with the pre-COVID-19 condition. The proposed methodology could be useful to support the public and private entities involved in urban investment decision-making processes, allowing us to identify the most appreciated factors of the residential real estate market demand, in order to improve the conditions of existing and future assets and reduce the related risk levels.