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Data from downtown Boston in the 1990s show that loss aversion determines seller behavior in the housing market. Condominium owners subject to nominal losses 1) set higher asking prices of 25–35 percent of the difference between the property's expected selling price and their original purchase price; 2) attain higher selling prices of 3–18 percent of that difference; and 3) exhibit a much lower sale hazard than other sellers. The list price results are twice as large for owner-occupants as investors, but hold for both. These findings suggest that sellers are averse to realizing (nominal) losses and help explain the positive price-volume correlation in real estate markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to identify the impact of amenities on housing price levels within Eastern Massachusetts since 1982. Divides the Eastern Massachusetts region into small groups of similar towns and examines the pattern of price changes across those groups during the economic boom, bust, and recovery periods. Finding that housing affordability was the most important factor explaining price changes during the boom period; Other factors.

Evidence from the Boston condominium market of the early 1990's reveals that an owner's equity position determines his experience as a seller. An owner of a property with a high loan-to-value ratio sets a higher asking price, has a higher expected time on the market and, if he sells, receives a higher price than an owner with proportionately less debt. The down payment requirement for purchasers, but not incumbent owners, provides a simple explanation for this phenomenon among owner-occupants. The results provide supporting evidence for equity-based aggregate theories of price-volume movements in the housing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the adjustments made by the local government and private citizens to a demographically driven increase of school enrollments at Massachusetts between the 1980s and the 1990s. Impact of public school enrollment changes on school quality; Emergence of enrollment shifting trends during the 1990s.