Superstition in the Housing Market
20 Pages Posted: 9 May 2014
There are 2 versions of this paper
Superstition in the Housing Market
Date Written: July 2014
Abstract
We provide the first solid evidence that Chinese superstitious beliefs can have significant effects on house prices in a North American market with a large immigrant population. Using real estate data on close to 117,000 house sales, we find that houses with address number ending in “4” are sold at a 2.2% discount and those ending in “8” are sold at a 2.5% premium in comparison to houses with other addresses. These price effects are found either in neighborhoods with a higher than average percentage of Chinese residents, consistent with cultural preferences, or in repeated transactions, consistent with speculative behavior.
JEL Classification: D03, R2, Z1
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation