Editorial

Citation

Reed, R. (2015), "Editorial", International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, Vol. 8 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHMA-03-2015-0013

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, Volume 8, Issue 2

Introduction from the Editor

Welcome to the second issue in the eighth volume of the International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis. Due to the higher submission rate of quality research papers, this volume has now been expanded to include additional papers in each issue. This Journal is focussed on being truly international and publishes research relating to housing markets located in both developed and developing countries. The diverse range of countries and continents examined in this issue is testament to the Journal’s unique contribution to research and encourages innovative and original research into international housing markets.

The first paper examines the level of house prices in Norway and investigates why housing prices in Norway increased after the global financial crisis, even though there were lower house prices in many countries. Based on a methodology using a vector error correction model to determine if prices in Oslo were overpriced, the findings indicated house prices in Oslo were overpriced by approximately 35 per cent when compared to the equilibrium prices. The second paper is centred on Indonesia and seeks to identify factors or attributes which influence the price of residential housing in Jakarta. Based on a survey of over 200 residents, the findings identified individual factors which influenced house prices. It was demonstrated that “physical qualities”, “concept” and “locational factors” influenced the perception of consumers.

The third paper investigates the level of housing affordability in Nigeria. The participants in the survey were households located in Kaduna State, where the findings confirmed that the following were positively related to affordability: household income, savings, construction period and education. Attributes negatively linked to housing affordability were household size, cost of land, building cost inflation levels, current expenditure on rental housing, non-housing expenditure and the building cost relative to income. The fourth paper focuses on the USA housing market, more specifically the effect on Louisiana housing in the post-Katrina era. As mortgage default losses are of great interest to lenders, this study used a stochastic methodology to address the risk of mortgage default losses and homeowners’ investment returns. The findings examined the possibility of mortgage defaults and monetary damage amounts, as well as estimating the homeowners’ net equity values and investment returns for risk identification and evaluation purposes.

The fifth paper investigates the views of landlords and agents in Wales towards a voluntary accreditation scheme for landlords and agents operating in the private rental sector. The methodology included the distribution of a survey to analyse the views of landlords and agents; however, the findings indicated that there was a negative perception of the scheme due to the behaviour of a minority of agents and landlords with poor housing management practices and standards. The discussion included reference to mandatory registration and accreditation of landlords and agents. The sixth paper examines an abandoned mining area (Jos Plateau) which has been identified as an area for a housing development. With the focus placed on the potential contamination by radioactive soil, the emphasis was placed on the perspectives of stakeholders linked to the development. The findings confirmed that the level of radioactive substances in the soil exceeded international standards and potentially will have a serious impact on the health of residents.

The seventh and final paper is based on the housing market in Australia and examined the impact of common monetary policy shocks on house prices at national and capital city levels. It was demonstrated that while the impact of shocks to interest rates on aggregate house prices is almost neutral, the responses of capital city house prices to the same shock can exhibit significant asymmetries. Furthermore, it was shown that overall it takes approximately three years for a single rate shock to have a similar impact on housing markets in all capital cities.

This issue includes references to housing markets in six diverse countries based on a range of methodologies and approaches. If you have any additional comments on housing-related research or are interested in submitting a research paper, then please contact the editor directly at: mailto:ijhma@ijhma.com, mail to: mailto:richard.reed@deakin.edu.au. The homepage for the Journal, including the link for submissions, is located at: http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/ijhma.htm

Richard Reed
Editor