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Since the 1980s UK academics have promoted the use of multiple regression analysis in property valuation. Recently, however, there has been growing recognition that regression models will be subject to aggregation bias if they fail to accommodate the existence of housing market segmentation (submarkets). In this study, we compare the empirical performance of a standard hedonic house price regression model for the city of Glasgow with a segmented model which recognises the importance of understanding the underlying market structure and, in particular, the existence of submarkets for different dwelling types. The results show that the (weighted) standard error of the segmented model is significantly lower than that of the market wide model. Consequently, we propose a two‐stage approach to the application of MRA techniques to residential valuation. First, following traditional institutional analysis of housing markets, the market should be subdivided into distinct structurally differentiated market segments. These segments can usefully be identified by principal components factor analysis which allows the identification of the most important common components in the housing bundle. Second, separate house price equations should be estimated for each market segment. Although the best‐fit equation may vary from sector to sector this is likely to reflect the behavioural realities of the property market, and will provide the basis for more accurate valuations.

This is a powerful critique of the growing tendency to reduce the new housing debate to a mere choice between greenfield and brownfield locations. This book points at the structure and organisation of the housebuilding industry, supply and demand pressures in the housing market, the contested nature of sustainability and the political character of the planning process. All factors which must be considered if a truly effective housing land policy is to be devised.The book:* analyses social, economic, and political influences on public policy and private investment* places current controversies

Typically, studies of the occupiers' choice of office property have focused on the influence of location. Following the standard behavioural assumptions of neo‐classical economics, the firm is assumed to make the rational profit‐maximising decision on the basis of full information. All firms are implicitly assumed to be homogeneous. This general approach eliminates much of the complexity from the decision‐making process. This paper uses evidence from a survey of over 100 office occupiers in Edinburgh to examine the influence of a broader range of factors on individual firms' choice of office. Using logistic regression techniques on the survey data, the empirical analysis shows that by taking account of heterogeneity of firms, it is possible to identify the type of property occupied. Firms' decisions are closely related to their size, business type and whether the market they serve is local, regional or national.

This paper argues that the methods of constructing house price indices for UK markets lag behind those employed in Europe, Australasia and North America. This is particularly evident in terms of the range and level of technical sophistication of the index construction methodologies. Importantly, the paper argues that the absence of reliable house price indicators undermines the decision‐making ability of policy makers and investors operating in urban housing markets. The paper suggests that this can, in part, be remedied by the construction of a system of local house price indices for British cities. The empirical research presents the first UK application of the repeat sales method to UK data. Indices are constructed for four cities and a range of diagnostic tests are used to establish the reliability and accuracy of the indices as a means of monitoring house price change. The research concludes by suggesting that the methods used here should be tested further on data from major metropolitan regions in England and Wales.

In this paper, it is argued that neo‐classical location theory is of limited value in conceptualising the structure of urban office markets. Rather there are sound theoretical and technical arguments for segmenting office markets into distinct submarkets. It is further argued that submarkets, rather than being based on prior knowledge of agents or researchers, should be derived empirically. As an illustration the authors use principal components analysis and cluster analysis to construct office submarkets. The results reported are based on the analysis of a unique dataset of asking rents, physical and locational characteristics of properties on the market in the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 1990s. From the empirical evidence, it is clear that different factors are important in influencing the structure of the office market in Scotland's major urban centres.