The research methodology comprises theoretical, empirical and evaluation stages.  The theoretical stage provides evidence that substantiates the need for the study and outlines possible ways to address spatial elements in hedonic price modelling.  The empirical stage illustrates the application of GIS and spatial statistics in the estimation of hedonic models for housing markets in Glasgow, Scotland, using 2,715 house prices for 2002 and 61 independent variables.  GIS is used in this study to construct spatial variables including detailed accessibility measures, to help detect the hedonic problems of heteroscedasticity and spatial autocorrelation, and for visualisation.  Spatial statistics are used to test formally and model explicitly the spatial autocorrelation.  The evaluation stage assesses 46 hedonic models, using OLS and spatial hedonic, for <i>a priori </i>segmentations involving the spatial, structural and nested sub-markets.  It also draws general conclusions about the importance of detailed accessibility measures and spatial statistics in sub-market modelling. This study finds that the nested sub-market modelling using a spatial hedonic approach is most effective, followed by the spatial and structural sub-markets.  The OLS sub-market modelling generally reduces spatial autocorrelation but does not eliminate it.  There is a greater incidence of spatial autocorrelation when the market size, with measured by geographical area or density of dwellings is larger.  The spatial hedonic modelling improves the performance of the individual OLS models and the three segmentation approaches, although the relative performance of the latter remains unchanged.  Nevertheless, will the spatial hedonic, the entire market model outperforms the OLS model of structural sub-markets.  <i>Flat</i>-based OLS sub-market models benefit substantially from the spatial hedonic.  The results also suggest that an individual accessibility measure is more significant than the zonal measure because it is able to capture the micro effect of location on price.  Further, spatial statistics produce more accurate, robust and reliable estimates of implicit prices.

This study develops a better understanding of the nature of urban parks from a safety perspective in two international contexts. To achieve this aim, the study is divided into two geographical scales (a macro scale and a micro scale) that test a set of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The macro-scale analysis provides an overall view of the effects of parks in the neighbourhood and at the city level. A particular focus is given to the impact of parks on housing prices. Overall, the findings show that parks function as an amenity that contributes to urban quality, which in turn influences property prices in Stockholm. However, this effect depends on a number of factors such as park type, location, and the level of safety and security of the parks. Safety also matters: Parks embedded in area with high-crime rates are less valued than in areas with low-crime rates. The micro-scale of study focuses on parks as a unit of analysis and looks at the environment of parks and how it triggers crime and affects people’s safety. The first analysis is based on whether—and, if so, how—park environments affect safety (crime occurrence) using the principles of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) as an inventory tool in a park in an area with a high-crime rate in Stockholm, Sweden. Building on the methodology from the first study, the second study investigates the nature of women-only parks (WOPs) in Karachi, Pakistan, by looking at both the environment of the parks and the users’ and non-users’ perceptions of safety. Regardless of context, the findings show that the safety conditions of a park are highly associated with the park’s environment (design and management features). Of importance to park safety are park size in relation to the number of access routes (entrance and exit points), the opportunities for surveillance in relation to the maintenance and the lighting conditions in parks. A clear lesson is that a CPTED-informed park design promotes guardianship and therefore should be encouraged, regardless of whether it is located in Stockholm or Karachi. However, the urban context does matter to park safety conditions and is highly dependent on the local, city-wide, and national contexts in which the park is embedded. / <p>QC 20171114</p>

The aim of the thesis is to obtain a better understanding of the importance of parks for urban quality, particularly for safety. This is achieved in two ways; first, by assessing parks’ impact on the perceived quality of the urban environment (whether it is incorporated into housing prices or not) in Stockholm. Second, the study investigates whether safety in parks may be assessed using principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) using a high-crime park in Stockholm’s inner city. The thesis starts with an introduction to the theme, with a brief discussion of background theory, literature review, the study area and the methods. Then, it reports the results of the articles included in the thesis and discusses their main contributions to the field of research. A mixed methods approach utilizes both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Regression models and a Geographic Information System (GIS) were used in Paper I, which aims to clarify how park proximity affects housing prices and, when considering residential properties and park type, how crime rates in parks affect housing prices. Findings show that the further away an apartment is located from a park, the higher the discount on its price effect, but this effect (dependent on the park type), as an accumulated measure of parks, lowers prices or is negligible. Paper II assesses the use and adequacy of CPTED principles to guide the assessment of safety conditions of an urban park. The historical development of CPTED is presented followed by an analysis of a case study, Tantolunden, in Stockholm. Site observations, crime mapping, people count and interviews were conducted. Results show many entrances in this particular park defy the principles of access control and in turn impose limitations on park maintenance. Findings also show that interrupted sight lines create limited surveillance. The paper concludes by identifying the potentialities and challenges of CPTED principles when applied to safety in parks. Findings presented in this thesis are relevant for many stakeholders in society as results show the variation in crime and safety in urban parks, and the way they can be assessed and tackled. / <p>QC 20151023</p> / Safety for whom? Housing market, safety and distributive justice

The Swedish rental market is suffering from several complications that can be derived from the utility-value-system regulating the market. A deregulation of the ineffective utility-value-system has for long been discouraged by the estimations of a market rent, commonly drawn from the pricing of condominiums. Yet, such estimations are problematic, not accounting for the market’s differences and the deregulation effect on condominium prices. The purpose of this study is to examine the overlooked aspect of how the distance of the utility-value-system to market rent affects condominium prices. This study explores the two markets of Stockholm and Malmö and their respective rental system’s proximity to market rent. The distance to market rent is an external attribute, among others, included in our constructed hedonic model which defines condominium prices. By using regression analysis, the contribution of each attribute to the condominium prices are estimated. The results of this study provide an interesting and overlooked aspect of the Swedish housing market, namely that the distance of the utility-value-system to market rent cause an increase in condominium prices. It illustrates how the greater the distance to market rent is, the greater is the excess demand of rental apartments which entails a larger increase in prices of the substitutive condominiums. Conversely, an increase in rent levels towards market rent implies a decrease in condominium prices. / Den svenska hyresmarknaden lider av flera komplikationer vilka kan härledas från det bruksvärdessystem som reglerar marknaden. En avreglering av det ineffektiva bruksvärdessystemet har länge avskräckts av uppskattningar av en marknadshyra, vilken ofta härleds från prisnivån på bostadsrätter. Sådana uppskattningar av marknadshyra är problematiska och tar inte hänsyn till marknadernas skillnader och den effekt en avreglering har på bostadsrättspriser. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka den förbisedda aspekten av hur avståndet mellan bruksvärdeshyra och marknadshyra påverkar bostadsrättspriser. Denna studie undersöker de två marknaderna Stockholm och Malmö och deras respektive hyressystems närhet till marknadshyra. Avståndet till marknadshyra är ett av många andra attribut inkluderat i vår konstruerade hedoniska modell som definierar bostadsrättspriser. Genom att använda oss av regressionsanalys beräknas den påverkan som varje attribut har på bostadsrättspriset. Resultaten av denna studie bidrar till en intressant och förbisedd aspekt av den svenska bostadsmarknaden, nämligen att avståndet från bruksvärdeshyra till marknadshyra orsakar en ökning av bostadsrättspriser. Det illustrerar att ju större avståndet till marknadshyra är, desto större är efterfrågeöverskottet på hyreslägenheter, vilket medför en större prisökning på de substitutiva bostadsrätterna. Omvänt innebär en ökning av hyresnivåerna mot en marknadshyra en minskning av bostadsrättspriserna.

Submitted by Odilon R. H. G. F. Costa (odilon.costa@pilum.com.br) on 2017-08-24T15:12:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis - Odilon Costa - VF.pdf: 1688083 bytes, checksum: d501579a90541d6ff416fd0d3eb65507 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2017-08-24T15:22:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis - Odilon Costa - VF.pdf: 1688083 bytes, checksum: d501579a90541d6ff416fd0d3eb65507 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-24T17:17:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis - Odilon Costa - VF.pdf: 1688083 bytes, checksum: d501579a90541d6ff416fd0d3eb65507 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-28 / Commercial real estate offers innumerous investment opportunities. Investors, financial institutions and regulators are interested in understanding what are the main determinants of value in real estate markets, measuring appropriate returns and risks related to target assets, and evaluating whether new market trends arising from institutional stakeholders, such as environmental labels, can contribute to property pricing. Differently from other financial asset classes, such as bonds and stocks, commercial buildings have low liquidity, are highly heterogeneous and depreciate over time, limiting their spatial and temporal comparability. Although the financial and economic literature about the industry has evolved significantly in developed economies, quantitative studies remain at embryonic stage in emerging markets. Given the populational and economic growth patterns from the last decades, there is an increasing concentration of emerging market cities among the largest urban agglomerations worldwide, and, consequently, higher demand for commercial properties. The main caveats for the development of quantitative real estate research are the lack of data, concentration of information among large consulting companies, and, in the case of emerging markets, low transparency and reliability in publicly available data. In this context, this research aims at contributing to the real estate literature with unique datasets for the largest office market in Latin America. This thesis is organized in three essays, comprising three distinct research questions surrounding the city of Sao Paulo. The objective of the first essay is to conceptually and empirically assess whether office markets can be viewed as an exclusive niche. The results, based on hedonic theory and regressions, indicate strong segmentation patterns as price formation comes primarily from the microeconomic needs of end users. The study also indicates that backdoor measures adopted by local specialists can be used as a proxy for segmentation when there is limited information on occupiers. The second essay revisits real estate indices available in Brazil and a number of technical and market-specific features which may be useful to improve existing indicators. Moreover, the study develops hedonic indices to highlight how the early recession affected Sao Paulo´s office market. The results show that market dynamics are very specific and emphasize the need for more detailed indicators. The third essay evaluates the relevance of the governance role of voluntary certification schemes based on the signaling literature. The empirical results show that third party audit schemes from internationally accredited institutions can affect real estate values. This essay not only compares labelled and non-labelled buildings, as done by previous studies, but also considers properties that did not obtain certification subsequent to registration. / O mercado imobiliário comercial oferece inúmeras oportunidades de investimento. Investidores, instituições financeiras e reguladores possuem interesse em entender quais são os principais determinantes de valor no setor imobiliário, mensurar retornos e riscos condizentes com os ativos-alvo, e avaliar se novas tendências decorrentes de demanda dos stakeholders institucionais, como a obtenção de selos ambientais, podem contribuir para o apreçamento de ativos. Diferentemente de outros tipos de ativos financeiros, tais como renda fixa ou variável, imóveis comerciais possuem pouca liquidez, são altamente heterogêneos e depreciam ao longo do tempo, limitando a sua comparação em âmbito temporal e espacial. Embora a literatura econômico-financeira sobre o setor tenha evoluído expressivamente em economias desenvolvidas, estudos quantitativos de grande escala continuam em estágio embrionário em mercados emergentes. Dado o crescimento econômico e populacional nas últimas décadas é natural que exista maior concentração de megalópoles emergentes entre as principais aglomerações urbanas mundiais e, consequentemente, o aumento relativamente mais expressivo da demanda por imóveis comerciais. Os principais limitadores para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas quantitativas no setor são a falta de dados, a centralização de informações em grandes consultorias imobiliárias e, no caso de países emergentes, a falta de transparência e confiabilidade nos dados disponíveis publicamente. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho visa contribuir para a literatura do setor imobiliário utilizando bases de dados únicas e contempla o maior mercado de escritórios da América Latina. Esta tese está organizada sob a forma de três ensaios, os quais abordam três questões distintas ao redor da cidade de São Paulo. O primeiro ensaio tem como objetivo avaliar conceitualmente e empiricamente se o mercado de escritórios pode ser visto como um nicho exclusivo. Os resultados, embasados em teoria e regressões hedônicas, indicam fortes indícios de fragmentação, bem como que a formação de preços advém principalmente das necessidades microeconômicas dos usuários finais. O estudo também indica que medidas backdoor adotadas por especialistas locais, podem ser usadas como proxy de fragmentação de mercado, quando há escassez de informações sobre os ocupantes. O segundo ensaio revisita os indicadores imobiliários disponíveis no Brasil e uma série de características técnicas e específicas do mercado local, que podem ser úteis ao aprimoramento dos índices existentes. Em seguida, desenvolveu-se indicadores hedônicos para mostrar como o início da recessão atual afetou o mercado de escritórios de São Paulo. Os resultados evidenciam que os ciclos imobiliários possuem aspectos muito específicos e enfatizam a necessidade de indicadores mais detalhados. O terceiro ensaio avalia a relevância do papel de governança econômica, associada às certificações ambientais voluntárias, com base na literatura de sinalização. Os resultados empíricos mostram que pareceres advindos de instituições internacionalmente acreditadas podem afetar os preços dos imóveis. Neste ensaio é feita a comparação de edifícios certificados e não-certificados, conforme feito em pesquisas anteriores, e foram estudados imóveis que não obtiveram o selo após o registro.