The impacts of distance to CBD on housing prices in Shanghai: a hedonic analysis

It is widely recognized that location is the primary determining factor of housing price. But to what extent the variation of housing price in Shanghai can be explained by the locational factor has not been empirically examined. In this paper, we examine the power of applying the hedonic method to the spatial-statistical analysis of housing prices in Shanghai. The data we use covers all new commercial residential housings sold in Shanghai during July 2004 and June 2006. The main focus in this paper is to examine the effect of geographical distance to city centre on the selling price of residential housings in Shanghai. We also discuss how the price gradient varies at different directions in Shanghai. Finally, we demonstrate the importance of applying quality control on the development of a housing price index. The statistical methodology and empirical results obtained in this paper carry interesting implications for other cities in China as well.