The applicability of self-reported home values in housing wealth inequality assessment: evidence from an emerging country

One of the measures of housing wealth inequality is the property’s market value. In existing analyses, this figure is often a subjective value determined by homeowners. Little is known about the validity of using this type of data as a substitute for market value in inequality studies. Therefore, this paper aims to examine whether self-reported home values can be applied to evaluate housing wealth inequality. In order to achieve this goal, first, a theoretical framework on the irrelevance of valuation bias for the assessment of housing wealth inequality was developed, followed by an empirical analysis. The latter included gathering information on subjective flat values and their characteristics in Warsaw. Next, a geographically weighted regression was calibrated to calculate the market value of these dwellings. Then, using the Gini coefficient, housing wealth inequality levels were estimated separately for subjective and objective home values. The results revealed that the former could serve as a very good proxy for the latter in housing wealth inequality analysis. The findings hold across almost all identified subgroups based on respondents’ gender, age, income, wealth, education and employment status. Finally, recommendations were formulated for public institutions and housing research.