When to Buy a House: How Weather and Sentiment Affect Housing Prices (with animated video)

Date: 4 January 2018

Topic: When to Buy a House: How Weather and Sentiment Affect Housing Prices

Contributors:
Prof. Maggie Hu Rong, School of Hotel and Tourism Management and Department of Finance, CUHK Business School

Introduction:
Housing prices have been a hot topic around the world. When it comes to what affects the prices of real properties, one may focus on economic factors, such as lack of land and housing supply. However, according to a research study by CUHK Business School, the weather and our mood can also affect housing prices.

The study was conducted by Prof. Maggie Hu Rong, Assistant Professor of School of Hotel and Tourism Management and Department of Finance at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School with her collaborator Dr. Adrian Lee from the University of Technology Sydney. It reveals that housing transaction prices are lower on rainy days, but higher on days with higher solar level, temperature and sentiment index. What’s more, auction sales are more likely to be affected by these factors compared to private negotiation sales.

This video was originally published in China Business Knowledge@CUHK.