The influence of design-related features on houses time-on-market : a statistical analysis

Purpose: Researchers have not widely explored design-based factors that govern buildings’ physical properties and human–building interactions. This paper aims to understand the influence of design-related factors on the time-on-market (TOM) of listed houses and, consequently, study the effect of design features on the desirability of a given house. Design/methodology/approach: This research analyzes a dataset of listed houses, provided by the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton (RAE) and covers a period extending from January 2009 to August 2019, using Cox proportional-hazards regression model to identify building features that influence people purchasing decisions. Findings: The research findings affirm the statistical insignificance of the price on the TOM compared to other design features, such as the construction method, the installed mechanical systems and cladding materials. Research limitations/implications: The data used in the analysis comes from a single North American region, i.e. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Also, the data provided by the RAE includes only records that involve a realtor. Practical implications: The observations of the research presented in this paper influence the housing market players’ decisions about housing designs, mainly those concerned with building new residential dwellings such as speculative builders and designers. Originality/value: The research novelty stems from two aspects: the medium used for analysis, i.e. Cox proportional-hazards regression model, which allows considering the listed-but-not-sold units and helps to eliminate the survivorship bias that leads to over-optimistic outcomes; and the assessment of design-related features which allows to understand people’s preferences in design alternatives.