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Green Luxury Goods? The Economics of Eco-Labels in the Japanese Housing Market

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  • Fuerst, Franz
  • Shimizu, Chihiro

Abstract

This paper aims to extend the existing evidence on the investment value of green buildings to international markets, specifically the residential market in Japan. Using a unique transaction database of condominiums in the Tokyo metropolitan area and a hedonic analytical framework, we find that green buildings command a small but significant premium on both the asking and transaction prices. This finding is consistent with results from other countries. As far as we are aware, this is also the first study of green buildings’ economic value based on a hedonic model incorporating buyer characteristics. However, further analysis reveals that this premium is primarily driven by wealthy households that exhibit a higher willingness-to-pay for eco-labelled condominiums, both as a total amount and as a fraction of the total sales price. We therefore conclude that eco-labels are perceived as a luxury good in the Japanese housing market rather than a way to save money on lower utility bills.

Suggested Citation

  • Fuerst, Franz & Shimizu, Chihiro, 2014. "Green Luxury Goods? The Economics of Eco-Labels in the Japanese Housing Market," HIT-REFINED Working Paper Series 7, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:remfce:7
    Note: First version: 28th May, 2014, This version: 28th August, 2014
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    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/26843/wp007.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Taruttis, Lisa & Weber, Christoph, 2022. "Estimating the impact of energy efficiency on housing prices in Germany: Does regional disparity matter?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    2. Yuta Kuroda & Takeru Sugasawa, 2023. "The Value of Scattered Greenery in Urban Areas: A Hedonic Analysis in Japan," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(2), pages 523-586, June.
    3. Marmolejo-Duarte, Carlos & Chen, Ai, 2022. "Uncovering the price effect of energy performance certificate ratings when controlling for residential quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    4. Miyakoshi, Tatsuyoshi & Shimada, Junji & Li, Kui-Wai, 2016. "The impacts of the 2008 and 2011 crises on the Japan REIT market," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 30-40.
    5. Fuerst, Franz & Warren-Myers, Georgia, 2018. "Does voluntary disclosure create a green lemon problem? Energy-efficiency ratings and house prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-12.
    6. Copiello, Sergio, 2017. "Building energy efficiency: A research branch made of paradoxes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1064-1076.
    7. Felipe Encinas & Carlos Aguirre & Carlos Marmolejo-Duarte, 2018. "Sustainability Attributes in Real Estate Development: Private Perspectives on Advancing Energy Regulation in a Liberalized Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, January.
    8. Wei-Ling Tsou & Chen-Yi Sun, 2021. "Consumers’ Choice between Real Estate Investment and Consumption: A Case Study in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-13, October.
    9. Franz Fuerst & Ben Dalton, 2019. "Gibt es einen wissenschaftlichen Konsens zur Wirtschaftlichkeit nachhaltiger Immobilien? [Is there a scientific consensus on the economic viability of sustainable buildings?]," Zeitschrift für Immobilienökonomie (German Journal of Real Estate Research), Springer;Gesellschaft für Immobilienwirtschaftliche Forschung e. V., vol. 5(1), pages 173-191, November.
    10. Cespedes-Lopez, Maria-Francisca & Perez-Sanchez, V. Raul & Mora-Garcia, Raul-Tomas, 2022. "The influence of housing location on energy ratings price premium in Alicante, Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    11. Nishi, Hayato & Asami, Yasushi & Shimizu, Chihiro, 2021. "The illusion of a hedonic price function: Nonparametric interpretable segmentation for hedonic inference," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    12. Paloma Taltavull de La Paz & V. Raul Perez-Sanchez & Raul-Tomas Mora-Garcia & Juan-Carlos Perez-Sanchez, 2019. "Green Premium Evidence from Climatic Areas: A Case in Southern Europe, Alicante (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-29, January.
    13. Odilon Costa & Franz Fuerst & Spenser Robinson & Wesley Mendes-da-Silva, 2017. "Are Green Labels More Valuable in Emerging Real Estate Markets?," LARES lares_2017_paper_5, Latin American Real Estate Society (LARES).
    14. Ana-María Martínez-Llorens & Paloma Taltavull de La Paz & Raul-Tomas Mora-Garcia, 2020. "Effect of The Physical Characteristics of a Dwelling on Energy Consumption and Emissions: The Case of Castellón And Valencia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-20, November.
    15. Guangyang Chen & Kai Dong & Shaonan Wang & Xiuli Du & Ronghua Zhou & Zhongwei Yang, 2022. "The Dynamic Relationship among Bank Credit, House Prices and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-18, August.
    16. Florian Fizaine Fizaine & Pierre Voye & Catherine Baumont, 2018. "Les études hédoniques soutiennent-elles une valeur verte élevée dans le bâtiment ? Une réponse par la méta-analyse," Post-Print halshs-01957447, HAL.
    17. Miemie Struwig & Chris Adendorff, 2018. "Consumers' Perception of Eco-labels in South Africa," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 4(2), pages 163-178, April.
    18. David T. Tan & Yi Gong & José Gabriel Siri, 2017. "The Impact of Subsidies on the Prevalence of Climate-Sensitive Residential Buildings in Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-26, December.
    19. Maria-Francisca Cespedes-Lopez & Raul-Tomas Mora-Garcia & V. Raul Perez-Sanchez & Juan-Carlos Perez-Sanchez, 2019. "Meta-Analysis of Price Premiums in Housing with Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-59, November.
    20. Prasad Siba Borah & Courage Simon Kofi Dogbe & Michael D. Dzandu & Wisdom Wise Kwabla Pomegbe, 2023. "Forging organizational resilience through green value co‐creation: The role of green technology, green operations, and green transaction capabilities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5734-5747, December.
    21. Suzuki, Masatomo & Shimizu, Chihiro, 2024. "Obsolete housing equipment, weak renovation, and rapid depreciation of Japanese condominiums," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    22. Łaszkiewicz, Edyta & Czembrowski, Piotr & Kronenberg, Jakub, 2019. "Can proximity to urban green spaces be considered a luxury? Classifying a non-tradable good with the use of hedonic pricing method," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 237-247.
    23. Jennifer Kunz & Stephanie May & Holger J. Schmidt, 2020. "Sustainable luxury: current status and perspectives for future research," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(2), pages 541-601, July.
    24. Higgins, Kieran & Hutchinson, W. George & Longo, Alberto, 2020. "Willingness-to-Pay for Eco-Labelled Forest Products in Northern Ireland: An Experimental Auction Approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    25. Craig Kerr, 2017. "The effect of amenities on local wage distributions," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 215-228, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Green building; green label; hedonic approach; offer price; bid price; market price function; omitted variable bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing

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