Time-varying spillovers among first-tier housing markets in China

Numerous efforts have over the last few years been devoted to studying spillovers (ripple effects) among cities as a means of evaluating overheated housing markets. What seems to be lacking, however, is the application of a rolling-window approach to further explore time-varying spillovers in a timely manner in order to look more closely at a housing market with Chinese characteristics; for example, a market with rapidly increasing prices and a sequence of policy recommendations. By focusing on total, directional and net spillovers, and using 2000–2017 monthly housing price data across six Chinese cities, this study’s results indicate that time-varying spillovers provide a better understanding of the interactions among first-tier cities. It is interesting to note that, following the downside risk faced by the economy in 2014, the spillovers among cities have been abruptly transformed into those exhibiting bilateral co-movements based on high total spillovers and low net spillovers, and these results are also confirmed by the frequency dynamics of spillovers. Based on the above, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the housing frenzies in China, which have become a national-level issue, deserve a more explicit macro-control policy in relation to real estate assets.