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OPTIMAL HOUSING COST ESTIMATES FOR 177 U.S. METROPOLITAN AREAS
Author(s) -
Easton Todd
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1467-9787
pISSN - 0022-4146
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9787.2012.00777.x
Subject(s) - metropolitan area , index (typography) , economic rent , measure (data warehouse) , benchmark (surveying) , census , cost of living , price index , econometrics , economics , geography , statistics , economic growth , computer science , mathematics , demography , cartography , microeconomics , population , sociology , archaeology , database , world wide web
This research tests the ability of six metropolitan‐level measures of housing costs to predict a benchmark housing cost measure based on Aten's area price level index. The first four measures are calculated with U.S. Census Data, the fifth is based on HUD Fair Market Rents, and the sixth is the housing portion of the ACCRA Index. In 25 large metropolitan areas, the fourth measure predicts 86 percent of the variation in the benchmark index in 1990 and 85 percent in 2000. The fifth measure performs nearly as well. The paper concludes both are promising measures of living costs.