Behavioural Science and Housing Decision Making: A Case Study Approach

This book takes a behavioural approach to examine six important housing questions: tenure decision, gentrification, place attachment, housing bubbles, housing wealth, and residential satisfaction.

Using experimental and field data, the book demonstrates the effects of six behavioural biases and heuristics (i.e., anchoring and reference dependence, loss aversion, mental accounting, endowment effect, herd behaviours, and social comparison) on these housing decisions. The first part of the book introduces the questions and provides a behavioural science toolbox before the second part adopts a real-world case study approach. Real data sets and suggested answers are provided, and the cases come from the UK, USA, and China. Background information is given in each case to facilitate the understanding of the case data and question, as well as the discussions on the results.

This book is ideal supplementary reading on a variety of courses such as housing studies, economics, real estate, research methods, and for students and academics who are interested in the application of behavioural science in housing decisions.

Helen Bao is a Fellow in Land Economy, Newnham College, and a Senior Lecturer in Real Estate Finance and Director of International Relations, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK.