What is the Value of a Name? Conspicuous Consumption and House Prices

This study is the first to lend empirical support to anecdotal media reports that indicate that real property buyers are willing to pay price premiums based on property names. Using a standard hedonic price model, we explore the price effects of property names that include the terms “country†and “country club†within a neighborhood. We find that buyers assign a premium of 4.2 percent for the term “country†and an additional 5.1 percent for the term “country club†in the property name. We also find that wealthier buyers tend to be the leaders in paying this price premium, but that buyers are less willing to pay these premiums during recessionary times.