Markov-switching Unit Root Test: A study of the Property Price Bubbles in Hong Kong and Seoul

Evans (1991) demonstrates that the unit root tests recommended by Hamilton and Whiteman (1985) and Diba and Grossman (1988) will fail to detect periodically collapsing rational bubbles. Hall et al. (1999) however show that the power of this test procedure can be improved by incorporating a Markov-switching state variable. In this paper, we apply both procedures to selected data from Hong Kong and Seoul. Both point to the possible existence of a periodically-collapsing bubble in each price series investigated, with the second procedure more precise on timing the bubble. Our Markovswitching model is validated using a symmetry test and a Wald test.