Evaluating the Usefulness of the American Housing Survey for Creating House Price Indices

J. OF REAL ESTATE FINANCE AND ECONOMICS, Vol. 14 No. 1

Posted: 25 Apr 1997

See all articles by Katherine A. Kiel

Katherine A. Kiel

Associate Professor

Jeffrey E. Zabel

Tufts University - Department of Economics

Abstract

The American Housing Survey (AHS) is a valuable source of information on houses and occupants over time. The AHS has several advantages over sales data for use in the creation of price indices: it is readily available, has frequent observations over time and space, has data from the late 1970s through the mid 1990s, includes houses that do not sell, as well as those that do, and has information on the occupants. The drawbacks include: a time lag between the interview and the release of the data, data suppression issues, owner stated house values, and a lack of neighborhood information. In this study we use the metropolitan version of the AHS which has been supplemented with the original survey data as well as Census tract data for three cities over fourteen years to examine whether the AHS can be used to create indices. Indices are estimated using hedonic, repeat valuation, and hybrid techniques, overcoming some of the problems inherent in the estimation of indices. We find that the data suppression issues and the owner stated house values are not problematic. The biggest drawback of the AHS is its lack of objective information on neighborhood quality.

JEL Classification: R30

Suggested Citation

Kiel, Katherine A. and Zabel, Jeffrey E., Evaluating the Usefulness of the American Housing Survey for Creating House Price Indices. J. OF REAL ESTATE FINANCE AND ECONOMICS, Vol. 14 No. 1, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=9257

Katherine A. Kiel (Contact Author)

Associate Professor ( email )

1 College Street
Worcester, MA 01610-2395
United States
508-793-2743 (Phone)
508-793-3708 (Fax)

Jeffrey E. Zabel

Tufts University - Department of Economics ( email )

Medford, MA 02155
United States
617-627-2318 (Phone)
617-627-3917 (Fax)

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