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This paper aims to investigate how a prospective buyer’s optimal home-size purchase can be determined by means of a stochastic-dominance (SD) analysis of the historical data of Hong Kong.

By means of SD analysis, the paper uses monthly property yields in Hong Kong over a 15-year period to illustrate how buyers of different risk preference may optimize their home-size purchase.

Regardless of whether the buyer eschews risk, embraces risk or is indifferent to it, in any adjacent pairing of five well-defined housing classes, the smaller class provides the optimal purchase. In addition, risk-averters focusing on total yield would prefer to invest in the smallest and second-smallest classes than in the largest class.

As the smaller class provides the optimal purchase, the smallest class affords the buyer the optimal purchase over all classes in this important housing market – at least where rental yields are of primary concern.

The findings suggest that in the Hong Kong housing market, long-term investors may be better off purchasing smaller homes. For other type of investors, it depends on their risk preference.

There is a very small body of empirical literature on housing investment, especially if the focus is on the optimal home-size purchase.

This study aims to explore the pattern of urban residents’ socio-spatial distribution in a small-sized city where the local housing market capacity and variety is limited.

Spatial variation was reflected by two different analysis. First, factor analysis was applied to determine the major dimensions of the social, economic and housing environment in the investigation area. Second, Kriging maps, which depict the socio-spatial distribution pattern of the households according to major dimensions, were produced by interpolating factor scores on a continuous surface. Those were supported by complementary exploratory analysis to deepen the discussion.

Homogenous distribution of similar groups to housing areas and low inner differentiation particularly within lower income neighborhoods are the noticeable results of the analysis set. Ethnicity and income differentiation are the principal determinants of socio-spatial distribution pattern in our case. The constraints of the local housing market are seemed to facilitate spatial separation. Disadvantaged population groups are limited to small niches within the urban fabric; they are relegated to poor quality neighborhoods or to unpopular inner-city housing estates.

This research has been performed for the small size city in Turkey and may not hold for other areas, even though the methodology can be replicated and the mechanisms at play are quite similar elsewhere.

The internal differentiation of urban residents’ is worth investigation to develop consistent housing and planning policies to overcome prospective social exclusion problems. This study has a potential of remarking the importance of policy-based economic and housing development in smaller cities in Turkey.

Analyses displayed a sectoral structure of the distribution of urban residents but lower inner differentiation within neighborhoods. Limitations of the housing stock facilitate substantial level of isolation to the extent of ethnicity. Two different ethnic groups are confined to small niches, and they are ethnically and economically tied down to their neighborhoods. The physical properties and the quality of both dwellings and the housing environment are the poorest in these areas, and these are unpopular housing areas by the majority of the population. These findings are supposed to give direction of setting consistent housing policies in the case area.

This research is one of the initial research on socio-spatial distribution of urban residents to housing areas in Turkey. It is also one of the rare examples of socio-spatial differentiation study in small-sized city in the literature. The authors have shown that socio-spatial differentiation would be severe even in small size housing markets as opposed to expectation.

Focusing on small houses has become one of the recent trends in housing design in Japan, as has been observed in many house design works. Periodical coverage can tell that the number of such works has clearly been increasing since the 90s, as compared with the 70s and 80s. The trend of small houses was also observed in the 50s. In those postwar years of economic growth, it was driven by the conditions of the time, such as supply and housing shortages and urban centralization. Today’s social conditions are significantly different from those in the 50s, and naturally, the whole concept of small houses has greatly changed from the past.

In this research, we evaluate the experiments of small houses, from the view of the idea of sustainability and open building concept. Specifically, the study compares the small houses of the 50s and those after 1990 to examine their differences or similarities in terms of size, structure and building systems. And thus clarify how industrialization and standardization reflect on these experiments.

The former period, most were constructed on wood, with traditional construction method. The purpose of design was rather how to adapt the industrialization to the traditional construction and how to realize the modern way of living in the smallest space, than fulfillment of flexibility. Moreover, low cost was also included in the design purpose. In latest examples, the “small” means “small building area” rather than “small space for life and minimal cost for construction” The experimental projects were conducted by the intention exploring new possibilities and diversities of space design, with various highly industrialized materials. The small houses after 1990 can be regarded as experimental efforts to explore new approaches to skeletons within the context of urban tissue.

Regarding the contribution of Australian small-size housing in the enhancement of total energy consumption of the country and the roles of the occupants’ preferences in successful implementation of action plans, the purpose of this study is to identify the Australian occupants’ collaborative image of housing energy efficiency. The two main objectives are, therefore, to address the main energy-related housing physical factors that have the potential in representing the housing image of Australian occupants and to explain the causal factors that make the physical factors critical to their energy efficiency perception.

This study has been developed through a qualitative approach. Given that the images encompass a wide range of information expressing human perceptions, an online photo-based qualitative survey was developed based on previous research works. The survey includes respondents’ demographic profiles and the evaluation of images, asking for their perception of overall housing energy efficiency, the impacts of building envelope physical attributes on the energy efficiency of the houses and the reasons behind the selection of different attributes.

This study has developed a set of attribute-based factors, explaining occupants’ collective perception of energy efficient small-size housing of Brisbane in the area of exterior aspects of the buildings. Specifically, the collaborative image of small-size housing of Brisbane is about the thermal performance of the buildings provided through passive climatic principles by using more efficient envelope features, e.g. material, colour, transparency, texture, openings, balconies and shadowing devices, while ignoring the impacts of architectural composition principles along neighbourhood quality. The key attributes in assessing the small-housing energy efficiency are ventilation, thermal performance and shadowing. The housing images in old traditional architectural style with rural face, built by stone, brick and concrete in high dense vegetation were evaluated to be more energy efficient than those with modern architecture, built by large glass panel and metal cladding with light or no vegetation.

The main limitation of the paper is related to the nature of an image-based survey, which leads to ignoring some aspects of real spaces such as odour, temperature and noise.

This research has the potential for developing a practical methodology for assessing housing-resident fit using computer-based methodology and neural networks.

This research has the potential for developing a methodology, assisting the end users in meeting their desires and motivations by helping them in assessing how a housing unit fits with their expectations and preferences.

This research provides a reliable conceptual platform for dealing with the complexity of occupants’ housing perceptions. This is achieved by establishing a collective conceptual picture of these environmental perceptions, namely, housing image, which is a platform for transferring abstract data related to human perception into measurable and quantitative scales.

This paper aims to analyze the median price for existing single-family housing units in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The proposed theoretical model accounts for the interplay between supply and demand sides of a metropolitan housing market.

This study analyzes the median price for existing single-family housing units in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The proposed theoretical model accounts for the interplay between supply and demand sides of a metropolitan housing market. Explanatory variables used in the analysis are real per capita income, the housing stock, real mortgage rates, real apartment rents and the median real price of single-family units in the USA. Annual frequency data are collected for a 1971–2017 sample period. Parameter estimation is completed using two-stage generalized least squares. Empirical results confirm several, but not all, of the hypotheses associated with the underlying analytical model. In particular, Las Cruces housing prices are found to be reliably correlated with local income and national housing prices.

Empirical results confirm several of the hypotheses associated with the underlying analytical model. In particular, Las Cruces housing prices are found to be reliably correlated with local income and national housing prices.

Results obtained support only a subset of the hypothetical relationships associated with the theoretical model. Additional testing for other small and/or medium sized is required to clarify whether these outcomes are unique to Las Cruces.

Local income fluctuations and national housing price fluctuations appear to be reliably related to housing price fluctuations for this metropolitan economy.

Comparatively little housing market research has been conducted for small and medium size urban economies. There is no guarantee that results obtained for large metropolitan housing markets are representative of smaller regional housing markets. The model developed has fairly moderate data requirements and may be applicable to other small and medium size economies such as Las Cruces.

Many people living in and around Mumbai face space scarcity within homes, an issue exacerbated for families with members having differing and conflicting spatial requirements. By investigating how families live in existing residential environments, planners and designers can enable families to cope better with space scarcity.

A case study approach is used to examine four small home settings in and around Mumbai, followed by a thematic analysis of the data collected.

This study contributes a framework for studying small homes in and around Mumbai wherein they are characterized by five categories of information: internal zoning pattern, expansion pattern, spatial specialization and stratification pattern, outdoor space appropriation pattern and household adjustment pattern. Analysis through this framework gives insight into how small home settings are used by residents.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study offering in-depth comparative analysis of small home typologies in India.

The purpose of this research is to explore the possibility of integrating women‐centred savings schemes into formal finance systems in order to help such schemes to leverage finance for housing purposes.

The research adopts a case study approach that uses mainly semi‐structured interviews. The case studies involve two savings schemes with their respective supporting organisations and five commercial banks in South Africa.

The case studies show that, if savings systems are flexible and suitable to their needs, women are capable of saving and repaying housing loans. The results also suggest that the accumulated group savings and the savings schemes themselves act as good collateral. However, despite showing interest in involvement in the low‐income sector, banks do not have a financially viable and workable business model to exploit this potential market.

Integrated community housing is essential. Future research is required to determine how good repayment rates could be achieved while maintaining risks at acceptable levels.

For practical purposes, collaboration with intermediary organisations working with women‐centred savings schemes would be a beneficial starting point in linking the savings schemes with formal finance systems.

The paper provides valuable reference material for understanding the gap that exists between what banks currently offer and what poor households require in meeting their housing needs. It may also be useful to researchers and practitioners as a basis for exploring innovative finance models for banks.

Previous studies on housing affordability in China were concentrated in China’s coastal and central regions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate housing affordability of urban residents in Northwest China. Moreover, this paper attempts to understand the consistency and influencing factors of various indicators on the evaluation of housing affordability.

This paper uses multiyear data on house sales, residents’ incomes and living expenses from 2011 to 2022. House price-to-income ratio, housing affordability index and residual income approach were calculated by using these data and used as the measure of housing affordability.

The results show that there are obvious differences in the housing affordability among the Xi’an, Lanzhou and Yinchuan during 2011–2022, and the housing affordability of residents in cities with small population and economic scale is better. The ability of most urban residents to afford suitable housing is still poor, and the ability to afford small-sized housing is better. Most families with below-middle income have poor housing affordability. It is also observed that although various indicators had similarities in the evaluation of residents’ housing affordability, the comprehensive evaluation results of multiple indicators were more reliable.

The research results provide a basis for the decision-making of the government’s urban housing policy and improvement of residents’ housing conditions.

The results have a clear understanding of the housing affordability of urban residents in Northwest China. The study found that the geographical location and topography of the city is also a factor affecting the housing affordability.

This paper seeks to explore the roles that different measures of housing stock and socio‐economic diversity have on the value of residential homes in San Diego, California.

This paper employs a hedonic pricing model to estimate the effects of different measures of diversity on housing prices based on a sample of approximately 6,500 houses in San Diego County, California. The measures of diversity can be classified broadly as either socio‐economic diversity (racial and ethnic diversity, variation in income, education, age, etc.) or diversity in housing stock (variability in housing and lot size, the age of structures, the mix or single family and multiple family, etc.).

The results suggest that home prices increase with greater diversity in the size of homes in a neighborhood, but tend to decrease with higher levels of diversity in the age of homes. In addition, there is evidence that smaller than average houses on smaller than average lots command a premium over other houses in the neighborhood.

The role of socio‐economic diversity on housing prices has been studied extensively. This paper explores the role of housing stock diversity in explaining variation in housing prices.

In Malaysia, the rapid urbanization that has been taking place since 1970s has made the housing development sector a key factor in the growth of Malaysia's economic prosperity. This paper aims to shed light on the performance of housing developers in Peninsular Malaysia by looking into the financial and non‐financial measures.

The organizational performance of 57 housing developers was studied by measuring their financial and non‐financial performance in the period 2006‐2008 using the Business Performance Composite Index.

The results of the study revealed that the performance of housing developers in the period 2006‐2008 has been growing in terms of profit margin, financial growth, and number of employees. Small and big housing developers were better than medium‐sized housing developers in terms of profitability.

This paper is unique because it looks into the financial ratios of return on investment, return on assets, and return on sales, which will clearly show how those housing developers have been performing financially in the period 2006‐2008.