As the housing market is known for its distinctive characteristics which are heterogeneity, immobility and information incompleteness, it is difficult to define the market as a homogeneous single one. Noticeably, the various types of housing sub-marke...
As the housing market is known for its distinctive characteristics which are heterogeneity, immobility and information incompleteness, it is difficult to define the market as a homogeneous single one. Noticeably, the various types of housing sub-markets exist driven by different conditions including house size, tenure type, housing type, etc. As there exist a number of housing sub-markets, it is important to ensure that housing policy considers different features presented by each sub-market. Nevertheless, the established housing policies up to now have revealed their limitations in reflecting regional characteristics of sub-markets, creating a number of side-effects. Hence, there is a growing need for developing more refined housing policy aligned to regional characteristics of each sub-market.
Therefore, this study focuses on analyzing the characteristics of each sub-market, and seeking the right direction for developing the housing policy based on the analysis results. To this end, first of all, this study has investigated profile of both housing market and its sub-markets and categorized the market into several types. Secondly, the characteristics of sub-markets of each housing market type have been analyzed. Thirdly, the relationship between sub-markets and income(consumption expenditure) has been investigated. Lastly, based on the results of those analyses, this study has proposed a right direction for developing housing policies aligned to sub-market considerations.
Housing types are classified into two categories: 'apartment' and 'any type of houses other than apartment (herein after 'non-apartment'), and types of occupancy are also classified into two categories: 'owner occupation(hereinafter 'owner')' and 'occupied by someone other than owner (hereinafter 'tenant'), all of which leads to creating 4 different types of housing market. These 4 types are defined as Apartment-Owner (type I), Apartment-Tenant (type Ⅱ), Non-apartment-Owner (type III), and Non-apartment-Tenant (type IV).
For the purpose of this research, 23 variables that can explain the housing market were selected for the factor analysis and the result has shown that the housing market of Seoul can be explained with 3 characteristics, which are the factors of 'house price and economy', 'convenience' and 'community' and their explanatory power was different depending on the type of housing market. The analysis result demonstrates that Apartment-Owner (type I) market as well as Non-apartment-Tenant (type IV) market could be explained with all 3 characteristics, and that sub-markets do exist for each market based on the characteristics. In the meantime, it has been analyzed that Apartment-Tenant (type II), and Non-apartment-Owner (type III) market could be explained by 2 characteristic factors('price and economy' and 'community'), yet, the 'convenience' factor turned out to be not valid as explanatory variable. Therefore, the convenience factor, which means the convenience of use of the commercial facilities or hospital, health/welfare facilities, the convenience of access to the pubic facilities including police station, town-block office, etc., the convenience of access to public transports including buses and subways, or/and parking convenience, is not the determining factor for selecting a residential area by households who are living in an apartment on lump-sum deposit based lease(jeonse) or rent, and the same is true for households owning either single-family(stand-alone) house or row house.
As demonstrated by results above, the housing market which could be explained by various variables has been found out to be closely related with household income and consumption expenditure. Both household income and consumption expenditure were not significantly different between Apartment-Owner(type I) market and Apartment-Tenant(type II) market. In other words, the household living in an apartment whether rented or owned does not exhibit considerable difference in terms of household income and consumption expenditure. However, a significant difference in both variables can be observed between the rest of market types. For instance, there exists a significant difference in household income or consumption expenditure between Apartment-Owner(type I) market and Non-apartment-Owner(type III), and between Apartment-Tenant(type II) and Non-apartment-Tenant(type IV). This difference can be more accentuated depending on whether you live in apartment or single-family (stand-alone)house/row-house. As consumption expenditure level, which server as a barometer for predicting a family's housing affordability (purchasing possibility) in the future, is dependent on housing type (apartment and non-apartment) the family lives in and, additionally, tenure type in case of a family living in non-apartment( owner or tenant), it may be important to consider the attributes of sub-markets when developing policies either on house price or house supply.
From 3 characteristics that explain the housing market, 'price and economy' factor best explains the difference in consumption expenditure between housing market types. If interpreted more comprehensively, the housing market in Seoul where the size of economy is heterogeneous according to different regions, also demonstrates a gap in consumption expenditure between those regions.
In the Apartment-Owner(type I) market , group 1(Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu) with the largest size of economy and the highest house price is totally heterogenic from the rest of groups (group 2, 3, 4) in terms of consumption expenditure. That is, Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu, which have been a main driver of house price, do boasts big numbers not only in house price and the size of economy but also in consumption expenditure, proving that this region's house market exhibits totally different attributes from the rest of regions.
In the Apartment-Tenant(type II) market, Seocho-gu with which housing price or economy size is