Join our upcoming REC Research Seminar on June 26-27, 2024, which have invited two scholars in the real estate field to give a presentation on their latest research. Event details are as follows.

REC Research Seminar (26 June), by Dr Zhan Changwei, National University of Singapore

Date: 26 June, 2024 (WED)
Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 noon
Venue: KB526, 5/F, Knowles Building, HKU

Title: Quantifying the Nexus between Sustainability Challenges and Real Estate Markets

 Abstracts: 

This presentation highlights his research in the fields of Real Estate and Sustainability. Cities and communities are facing threats across the three pillars of sustainable development: economy, environment, and society. His research aims to empirically understand the nexus between households, real estate markets, and sustainability challenges.

Dr Zhan’s representative work regarding “sea level rise (SLR) and property prices” exploits the Singapore government’s disclosure of SLR areas and its adaptation strategies valued at 100 billion Singapore dollars. His research found that public housing prices dropped by 5.6% and 2.1% two years after the shock in the SLR areas without and with adaptation measures, respectively. Freehold properties benefit more from adaptation strategies than leasehold properties. It also calibrate a relatively lower social discount rate with a lifespan exceeding 1000 years, suggesting greater incentives for investing in climate-related projects.

This presentation also briefly covers his other work focusing on real estate markets affected by urban heat and natural disasters, utilizing million-level datasets of real estate and mortgages. Through his research, he strives to offer novel perspectives for governments in the Asia-Pacific region to achieve a more sustainable future.

About the speaker:

Dr Zhan Changwei, Research Fellow, Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies & Department of Real Estate, National University of Singapore

 Changwei Zhan is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS). He received his doctoral degree from the NUS Department of Real Estate. Changwei’s research fields are Real Estate and Sustainability. He published papers in leading journals such as Regional Science and Urban Economics and JAMA Network Open. Changwei is a member of AEA, AREUEA, the Econometric Society, and an anonymous reviewer of renowned journals in Economics, Finance, and Real Estate.

Registration by 24 June (5 pm): https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?ueid=94987

REC Research Seminar Series (27 June), by Guo Shengwei, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Date: 27 June, 2024 (Thur)
Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 noon
Venue: KB526, 5/F, Knowles Building, HKU

 Title: Reference Price Updating in the Housing Market

 Abstracts: 

What reference price do home sellers use to set listing prices? This paper addresses this question by developing a model of seller listing behavior. The model includes reference points, financial constraints, and sale and mortgage default decisions. A novel dataset tracing the transaction, refinancing, and listing history of U.S. residential properties is used to estimate the model. The paper finds that sellers update the reference point from the original purchase price to the recent refinancing appraised price. Consequently, considering reference price updating better explains the aggregate price-volume correlation. This paper provides evidence from the housing market on how reference points adjust.

About the speaker:

Mr Guo Shengwei, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Guo Shengwei is a Ph.D. candidate in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received my B.S. in Mathematical Economics and Finance from CUFE in 2017 and M.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019. His research interests include real estate, household finance, and behavioral finance. His job market paper studies home sellers’ listing behavior using micro-level data and structural models. He also conducted research to study racial disparities in the housing market.

Registration by 24 June (5 pm): https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?ueid=94990