Housing Consumption And Preferences At The Micro Level - Comparison Of Ahp Exercises From Six Different European Market Segments

The role of locational quality in housing consumption is an increasingly important research objective given the demand-side considerations stemming from socio-cultural changes in the population of urban and metropolitan housing market areas. In circumstances involving diversified demand, the consumption pattern comprises a set of different preference profiles. From an operational point of view, such outcome can be generated through ranking locational attributes with respect to their relative importance for the house buyer or renter. This procedure may, for example, be based on pair-wise comparison of attributes based on expert judgements and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). While not sufficiently robust in itself, this information is suitable to enhance the housing market analysis by confirming and animating the findings obtained by larger scale models based on market data. This multiple case study on housing consumption and locational feasibility is based on expert elicited residential location quality profiles. The study forms an integral part of a broader project on housing market, property prices and locational preferences in various European metropolitan areas. The following six supply side segments from three different country-contexts (Finland, The Netherlands, Hungary) were investigated: (1) multi-storey, and (2) single-family housing, respectively, in suburban metropolitan Helsinki; (3) Amsterdam urban areas; (4) the urban areas in other main cities in Randstad Holland; (5) suburban areas in Randstad Holland; (6) the outer part of Pest inner city in Budapest. Each case is investigated using the AHP and open in-depth interviews of experts. (As the first five cases have been documented elsewhere, here particular attention is paid to the sixth case.) Subsequently, various naturalizing generalisations about locational profiles are obtained. The cross-country evidence indicates fundamental differences in housing consumer tastes and intentions between the housing market segments.