The primary objective of this study is to apply hedonic regression techniques to an office market to identify and quantify the significant contribution of the different attributes to office rents. This technique is widely used in the analysis of housing markets but an extensive literature review reveals little application in commercial property markets. The study analyses a sample of 477 asking rents, together with a series of locational and physical attributes, for the City of Glasgow. The results explain approximately 60 per cent of variation in rents across the city, emphasizing the importance of age and location as principal determinants of rents.

The purpose of this paper is to develop the concept of a housing market area, thereby provide insights into our understanding of the sub-regional structures of the housing system and hence propose a framework for strategic planning research in the housing market. To tackle this task, it is first necessary to consider the criteria for a local housing market area. The paper begins by reviewing previous definitions by both academics and planners, and their underlying assumptions. Based on the principle of spatial arbitrage, a local housing market area is defined by reference to criteria linked to migration self-containment. Parallels are drawn with the principles that have been applied to define a system of spatial labour markets using travel-to-work areas. This spatial arbitrage definition is tested empirically by developing a system of housing market areas for west central Scotland using data derived from the Land Registry. Finally, the paper draws together the empirical findings to discuss the nature of spatial housing markets and the implications for strategic planning. It argues that the establishment of a geography of functional housing market areas represents the first step in the development of systematic planning research.

In the 1950s and 1960s a group of housing economists at Columbia University developed a framework for the analyses of urban housing markets which was based around the concept of housing submarkets and household migration. There is now widespread agreement amongst housing economists that submarkets should be adopted as a working hypothesis but the concept has been reformulated in terms of intra‐urban relative house price differentials. The accepted test for submarket existence uses a hedonic model of house prices which assumes market equilibrium. This paper returns to an analysis of submarkets which focuses on spatial migration patterns. By examining household intra‐urban mobility patterns in the Glasgow housing market it is possible to demonstrate that submarkets tend to be self‐contained. The analysis also suggests that the current standard statistical tests may be incomplete and in the case of Glasgow underestimate the number of submarkets.

A major unproven hypothesis in housing economics is that regional ripple effects are caused by household migration between regions. This paper examines household migration and price ripples at the level of local housing markets driven partly by the fact that such migration linkages are likely to be more pronounced between local, rather than regional, housing markets. Following a review of regional housing market studies, several hypotheses linking the existence of lead-lag relationships and cointegration with the scale of migratory linkages between local housing market areas (LHMAs) are proposed. Using private housing transactions data for Strathclyde, a sub-region of Scotland, the paper identifies two clusters of LHMAs that differ in terms of their migratory linkages with Glasgow, the hypothesised leading housing market of the sub-region. Tests for lead-lag relationships and cointegration confirm the link between migration and house price changes.

The U.K. has the greatest proportion of online sales in Europe. This study seeks to explore the differential effects of online retailing on the (evolving) hierarchy of shopping centres by examining current trends and underlying forces. The overall objectives of the paper are to qualify and explore the influence of online retailing in the decision-making processes of leading retailers today; and to assess how virtual influences become manifest in the tangible built environment and have impacted the retail hierarchy? It differentiates online retail trends by sector and retailer size, and examines the consequences for different types of shopping centres. The empirical research is based on the changing location of stores of a major fashion retailer and interviews with three of Britain’s leading retailers that have seen the more substantial increase in online turnover in recent years. Major retailers are found to have integrated online offerings, such as click and collect, into a ‘multi-channel’ retailing approach. Online retailing has therefore become an inherent and central element within large retailers’ business and therefore real estate strategies, with considerations such as online marketplace penetration and possible ‘cannibalisation’ coming to the fore in decision-making about store location. Online retail sales are, to a degree, drawing sales away from shopping centres but its impact on the existing shopping hierarchy is largely to reinforce established long-term trends driven by the motor age and the shift to out of town retailing. This is symbolised by the largest ‘high street’ fashion retailer now having more branches in retail parks than town centres. Out of town shopping centres for example are benefitting because of the ease of goods collection offered by these locations.