MICROECONOMICS OF ARCHITECTURE: BETWEEN MARKET AND PUBLIC

The position of architecture between market goods and public goods is addressed in this study. A transition of architectural objects of built environment from market goods towards public or nonmarket goods is presented in literature review. The real estate market value is highly influenced by concepts of externalities and public goods, therefore being highly spatially dependent and making the process of the real estate valuation more complex. The internalization of these externalities and public goods is impossible because of the nature of public space in the city. The concept of value and different types of value, like exchange, use, image, social, environmental, cultural value, are also presented in literature review. These different types of value are transferred to value in exchange when estimating market value. The aim of research is to calculate the amount of the real estate market value that is influenced by externalities, public or nonmarket goods. The process of value transfers between market and public is also discussed in this study. In the research part prices of similar apartments in cities of Kaunas, Vilnius and Klaipėda (Lithuania) are compared to measure the coefficient of variance. Newly constructed apartment buildings with partial finishing interior within city boundaries are selected expecting their price to vary only because of different amount of externalities and public goods available inside district/region of selected building or provided by the actual building itself. The results show that up to 29% of the real estate market value is influenced by public or nonmarket goods. Implications of further research suggest controlling for market segmentation and architectural quality variables.