ABSTRACT

Using a comprehensive database of corporate relocation events in the U.S. from 1994 to 2017, we investigate the impact of headquarters relocation on the local economy by examining its spillover effects on the housing market. We find that headquarters relocation into a district at Zip Code level leads to 10% higher housing price growth. We also document a temporal spillover effect whereby housing prices increase one year before the relocation and rise further until two years afterwards, and a significant spatial spillover effect of corporate relocation on nearby Zip Codes’ housing markets up to 15 miles. We show the positive spillover effect on housing price growth is more pronounced for relocating firms with larger employee sizes and economic bases. We further find local economic spillover and agglomeration economies exacerbate the effect of corporate relocation on the housing market. Overall, our study indicates that corporate relocation exhibits significant impacts on the local housing market.

THE SPEAKER

Dr Xinwei Wan (Wayne) is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Banking and Finance at Monash Business School. His research interests include real estate finance, urban economics, and machine learning. Wayne received his PhD degree in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, BEng and MPhil degrees from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and the Master of Urban Planning (MUP) degree from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Wayne is also a member of the Cambridge Real Estate Machine Learning Lab (CREMLL). Before joining Monash University, Wayne had worked in industries as a management consultant and financial analyst in IBM, Citibank, etc.

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