This booklet discusses some major methodological issues relating to the construction of house price models on a macro level. There is no single method that always produces the optimal results; the choice of a particular approach, method, theory, model and technique is context-dependent. This is especially true in housing markets, where a multitude of different submarkets exist. The methodology chosen should be based on sound theory, from which the basic concepts of analysis can be derived. This booklet discusses the use of potential models, which can be constructed using a general field theory, and which act as a theoretical foundation for further analysis. If we use potential models for house price analysis we can discover additional features from the data set that other approaches would simply miss. This e-book presents a pragmatic overview of key methodological concerns with the emphasis on the use of potential models. Theoretical methodological questions are left unanswered, and are not even presented in this text, since they have little relevancy to real-world modelling questions.

This dynamic Research Handbook explores key perspectives, topics and methodologies used to understand housing, the home and society. Pairing social theory with a broad range of case studies from the Global North and South, it offers a unique insight into the field.

The applicability and performance of ARIMA, GARCH and multivariate regression models are analyzed and city as well as forecasting horizon-specific patterns are determined and interpreted by Alexander Bönner. Univariate rent forecasting models generally outperform multivariate rent forecasting regression models in the short run. In the long run, multivariate regression models dominate.

Consumers routinely enter into long-term contracts with providers of goods and services - from credit cards, mortgages, cell phones, insurance, TV, and internet services to household appliances, theatre and sports events, health clubs, magazine subscriptions, transportation, and more. Across these consumer markets certain design features of contracts are recurrent, and puzzling. Why do sellers design contracts to provide short-term benefits and impose long-term costs? Why are low introductory prices so common? Why are the contracts themselves so complex, with numerous fees and interest rates, tariffs and penalties? Seduction by Contract explains how consumer contracts emerge from the interaction between market forces and consumer psychology. Consumers are short-sighted and optimistic, so sellers compete to offer short-term benefits, while imposing long-term costs. Consumers are imperfectly rational, so sellers hide the true costs of products and services in complex contracts. Consumers are seduced by contracts that increase perceived benefits, without actually providing more benefits, and decrease perceived costs, without actually reducing the costs that consumers ultimately bear. Competition does not help this behavioural market failure. It may even exacerbate it. Sellers, operating in a competitive market, have no choice but to align contract design with the psychology of consumers. A high-road seller who offers what she knows to be the best contract will lose business to the low-road seller who offers what the consumer mistakenly believes to be the best contract. Put bluntly, competition forces sellers to exploit the biases and misperceptions of their customers. Seduction by Contract argues that better legal policy can help consumers and enhance market efficiency. Disclosure mandates provide a promising avenue for regulatory intervention. Simple, aggregate disclosures can help consumers make better choices. Comprehensive disclosures can facilitate the work of intermediaries, enabling them to better advise consumers. Effective disclosure would expose the seductive nature of consumer contracts and, as a result, reduce sellers' incentives to write inefficient contracts. Developing its explanation through a general framework and detailed case studies of three major consumer markets (credit cards, mortgages, and cell phones), Seduction by Contract is an accessible introduction to the law and economics of consumer contracts, and a powerful critique of current regulatory policy.

The financial deregulation of the last quarter century has meant large flows of funds around the world seeking the highest risk-adjusted return for investors. Real estate is now established as an important asset class and advances in information technology provide the necessary tools to complement global developments in real estate finance and investment. A variety of investment vehicles have emerged, andReal Estate Finance in the New Economy examines these along with financing and risk in the context of globalization, deregulation and an increasingly integrated international world economy by exploring questions like: How have real estate financial structures evolved as economies grow and become internationalised? What role do economic change and financial systems play in the development of real estate investment? Are the risks associated with the ‘new economy’ really new? What is the future direction for real estate financing? The authors develop an economic framework for discussions on individual financial products to examine how real estate financial structures change with economic growth and internationalisation and also to show how developments in real estate finance impact economic growth.

Explains how we got into the current economic disaster that developed out of the economics and politics of the housing boom and bust. The "creative" financing of home mortgages and "creative" marketing of financial securities based on these mortgages to countries around the world, are part of the story of how a financial house of cards was built up--and then collapsed.

The five-volume set LNCS 9155-9159 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications, ICCSA 2015, held in Banff, AB, Canada, in June 2015. The 232 revised full papers presented in 22 workshops and a general track were carefully reviewed and selected from 780 initial submissions for inclusion in this volume. They cover various areas in computational science ranging from computational science technologies to specific areas of computational science such as computational geometry and security.