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Kwong Wing Chau
Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

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Journal article
Published: 11 May 2021 in Journal of Asian Economics
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Among Asian economies, Hong Kong has experienced the highest real growth in house prices since the 2010s. Two macroprudential measures, namely credit tightening (loan-to-value ratio cap) and transaction taxes (stamp duty), were introduced to cool down the overheated housing market. This study examines and compares their effectiveness based on a set of constant-quality house price indices. Through an error correction model, we find that credit tightening was able to curb house price growth in the high-price segment, while transaction taxes could not. An explanation is that the exemptions from transaction taxes for those with genuine housing needs could be abused by other market participants. It is easier for buyers to exploit the exemptions to get around the stamp duty than to manipulate the property valuation for mortgage lending. The implication is that the effectiveness of macroprudential measures hinges on whether compliance or exemption can be easily monitored and enforced.

ACS Style

Siu Kei Wong; Ka Shing Cheung; Kuang Kuang Deng; Kwong Wing Chau. Policy responses to an overheated housing market: Credit tightening versus transaction taxes. Journal of Asian Economics 2021, 75, 101330 .

AMA Style

Siu Kei Wong, Ka Shing Cheung, Kuang Kuang Deng, Kwong Wing Chau. Policy responses to an overheated housing market: Credit tightening versus transaction taxes. Journal of Asian Economics. 2021; 75 ():101330.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Siu Kei Wong; Ka Shing Cheung; Kuang Kuang Deng; Kwong Wing Chau. 2021. "Policy responses to an overheated housing market: Credit tightening versus transaction taxes." Journal of Asian Economics 75, no. : 101330.

Journal article
Published: 03 May 2021 in Land Use Policy
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This interdisciplinary paper, informed by property rights economics, urban planning, facility management, and medical science, as well as the study of the quality of life, (a) presents a typology of Hong Kong open space transformation in terms of property rights; and (b) a small scale indicative survey with a sample that was > 1% of the workforce of the constituency. The authors argue with the help the findings of the survey that the government, as a major provider and regulator, should be able to assign a higher priority to, or enact better designs and plans for usable open spaces to contribute to better public health. This would counterbalance the focus on the indoor environment and health after the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and articulate with the issues of property rights and social justice in open space provision.

ACS Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai; Daniel C.W. Ho; K.W. Chau; Esther Y.T. Yu; Cindy L.K. Lam; Nixon T.H. Leung; Stephen N.G. Davies. Property rights & the perceived health contribution of public open space in Hong Kong. Land Use Policy 2021, 107, 105496 .

AMA Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai, Daniel C.W. Ho, K.W. Chau, Esther Y.T. Yu, Cindy L.K. Lam, Nixon T.H. Leung, Stephen N.G. Davies. Property rights & the perceived health contribution of public open space in Hong Kong. Land Use Policy. 2021; 107 ():105496.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai; Daniel C.W. Ho; K.W. Chau; Esther Y.T. Yu; Cindy L.K. Lam; Nixon T.H. Leung; Stephen N.G. Davies. 2021. "Property rights & the perceived health contribution of public open space in Hong Kong." Land Use Policy 107, no. : 105496.

Journal article
Published: 01 May 2021 in Habitat International
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Rental and vacancy dynamics in real estate markets have elicited substantial scholarly attention. Previous studies primarily focused on offices and paid much less emphasis on retail properties. Moreover, nearly all research fails to explore the causes of differences in rental and vacancy adjustment speeds. To this end, retail property rental and vacancy dynamics (1991–2017) in tourist- and local-dominant areas in Hong Kong are examined using error correction models. This study is the first to use information asymmetry theory to explain rent/vacancy adjustment speed differentials in the retail property market and investigate the change of the adjustment speeds accruing to a policy shock. The results show that both supply and demand factors influence retail property rentals. Rental adjustment is quicker in tourist-dominant areas than in local-dominant counterparts, which agrees with information asymmetry theory. The implementation of the Individual Visit Scheme hastens the rental adjustment process of tourist-dominant areas but not that of local-dominant counterparts. Finally, policy implications (e.g., adjusting the one-size-fits-all maximum loan-to-value ratio policy and enhancing tourists’ accessibility to non-tourist-dominant areas) are discussed.

ACS Style

Linchuan Yang; K.W. Chau; Yang Chen. Impacts of information asymmetry and policy shock on rental and vacancy dynamics in retail property markets. Habitat International 2021, 111, 102359 .

AMA Style

Linchuan Yang, K.W. Chau, Yang Chen. Impacts of information asymmetry and policy shock on rental and vacancy dynamics in retail property markets. Habitat International. 2021; 111 ():102359.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Linchuan Yang; K.W. Chau; Yang Chen. 2021. "Impacts of information asymmetry and policy shock on rental and vacancy dynamics in retail property markets." Habitat International 111, no. : 102359.

Journal article
Published: 08 February 2021 in Sustainability
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Providing affordable housing has become one of China’s key national policy agenda items. The shared-equity model in Hong Kong, implemented since the late 1970s, has assisted many families in owning a home in the public housing market. However, little attention has been paid to their welfare after acquiring their subsidized units. This study aims to examine how shared-equity homeownership distorts residential mobility through in-kind subsidies. Panel data analysis reveals that the more in-kind subsidies owners receive, the longer they would hold on to their units in spite of spatial mismatches. Private owners, on the other hand, would trade their units without such distortion. Conceptually, the lower mobility of assisted owners could be interpreted as a new source of misallocation in Glaeser and Luttmer’s welfare analysis. Practically, this throws into question the sustainability of a subsidizing homeownership policy: does the government ultimately want assisted homeowners to move from public housing to private housing in the future (for which high mobility would be intended)? If so, new thinking on how to make in-kind subsidies transferable is needed.

ACS Style

Ka Cheung; Siu Wong; Kwong Chau; Chung Yiu. The Misallocation Problem of Subsidized Housing: A Lesson from Hong Kong. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1855 .

AMA Style

Ka Cheung, Siu Wong, Kwong Chau, Chung Yiu. The Misallocation Problem of Subsidized Housing: A Lesson from Hong Kong. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (4):1855.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ka Cheung; Siu Wong; Kwong Chau; Chung Yiu. 2021. "The Misallocation Problem of Subsidized Housing: A Lesson from Hong Kong." Sustainability 13, no. 4: 1855.

Research article
Published: 13 September 2020 in Sustainable Development
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The integration of the sustainable development perspective into the discussion of heritage conservation by UNESCO in 2015 represents an acknowledgement of the values of heritage conservation in the agenda of sustainable development. This paper aims to provide empirical evidence regarding how heritage conservation fits into the overall sustainable development in Hong Kong by examining the external effects generated by architectural heritage conservation onto their adjacent neighborhood. By two adaptive reuse heritage case studies with respective hedonic pricing analysis on their adjacent property prices, this paper presents the results of how residential property prices have been increased as a result of heritage adaptive reuse. The analysis suggests that an established heritage grading mechanism along with a socially inclusive conservation approach with community stakeholders not only maintains the authenticity of the cultural heritage, but also brings substantial social and economic benefits to the neighboring communities. The research findings add new knowledge to the studies on sustainable development and provide practical recommendations to policymakers, urban planners, and heritage conservationists in future heritage policy and implementation.

ACS Style

Tris Kee; Kwong Wing Chau. Adaptive reuse of heritage architecture and its external effects on sustainable built environment—Hedonic pricing model and case studies in Hong Kong. Sustainable Development 2020, 28, 1597 -1608.

AMA Style

Tris Kee, Kwong Wing Chau. Adaptive reuse of heritage architecture and its external effects on sustainable built environment—Hedonic pricing model and case studies in Hong Kong. Sustainable Development. 2020; 28 (6):1597-1608.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tris Kee; Kwong Wing Chau. 2020. "Adaptive reuse of heritage architecture and its external effects on sustainable built environment—Hedonic pricing model and case studies in Hong Kong." Sustainable Development 28, no. 6: 1597-1608.

Journal article
Published: 14 August 2020 in International Journal of Strategic Property Management
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Existing literature has inadequately examined the nexus between tourism and property prices. Additionally, it mainly focuses on hotels and housing, thereby overlooking other property categories (e.g., retail properties). The relationship between tourism development and retail property prices in shopping destinations (e.g., Hong Kong and Singapore) may hinge on the locale. More specifically, the relationship may be different in the tourist precinct or popular tourism shopping area (PTSA) and the unpopular tourism shopping area (UTSA). This study examines locale-varying relationships between tourism development (measured by tourist volume and tourism expenditure) and retail property prices from 2002Q1 to 2014Q4 in Hong Kong using standard and error-correction-model-based (ECM-based) Granger causality tests. Results of standard Granger causality tests indicate that tourism development Granger causes the increase in retail property prices in the PTSA but not in the UTSA. Moreover, results of ECM-based Granger causality tests further verify the robustness and plausibility of the tourism-led growth (in retail property prices) hypothesis in the PTSA. In other words, we find that tourism development measures can be used to better predict changes in retail property prices in the PTSA than simply referring to the price history.

ACS Style

Linchuan Yang; K. W. Chau; Yi Lu; Xu Cui; Fanyu Meng; Xu Wang. LOCALE-VARYING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND RETAIL PROPERTY PRICES IN A SHOPPING DESTINATION. International Journal of Strategic Property Management 2020, 24, 323 -334.

AMA Style

Linchuan Yang, K. W. Chau, Yi Lu, Xu Cui, Fanyu Meng, Xu Wang. LOCALE-VARYING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND RETAIL PROPERTY PRICES IN A SHOPPING DESTINATION. International Journal of Strategic Property Management. 2020; 24 (5):323-334.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Linchuan Yang; K. W. Chau; Yi Lu; Xu Cui; Fanyu Meng; Xu Wang. 2020. "LOCALE-VARYING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND RETAIL PROPERTY PRICES IN A SHOPPING DESTINATION." International Journal of Strategic Property Management 24, no. 5: 323-334.

Journal article
Published: 30 July 2020 in Energies
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This study aims to test the effects of changes in international crude oil prices on changes in crude oil and hydropower use from 1965 to 2016. We suggest a cointegration relationship between the consumption of coal, crude oil, and hydropower and the real crude oil price. The real price is weakly exogenous for the long-run relationship and has impacted energy consumption accordingly. The long-run crude oil price elasticity of oil use is 0.460. Our estimate suggests a positive oil price–oil use relationship in China, which is dramatically different from many previous studies but is consistent with a few past studies. The growth in external oil prices may lead to a long-run increase in hydropower use in China, with a long-run price elasticity of 0.242. The long-run crude oil price elasticity of coal use is −0.930. Hence, increased oil and hydropower use could make up the energy supply–demand gap left over by the decreased coal use. Strictly planned domestic fuel prices and rapidly growing family incomes should diminish the negative effect of external oil prices on domestic crude oil demand. In the long run, given a strictly managed energy price, the growth in external oil prices is not likely to noticeably restrain the domestic oil demand or lead to a dramatic increase in coal use. We suggest that the large-scale development and utilization of hydropower may be inappropriate. Coal utilization policies must be reviewed. The appropriate increase in clean coal consumption could reduce the consumption of crude oil and hydropower; meanwhile, carbon emissions will not increase.

ACS Style

Gaolu Zou; Kwong Wing Chau. Effects of International Crude Oil Prices on Energy Consumption in China. Energies 2020, 13, 3891 .

AMA Style

Gaolu Zou, Kwong Wing Chau. Effects of International Crude Oil Prices on Energy Consumption in China. Energies. 2020; 13 (15):3891.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gaolu Zou; Kwong Wing Chau. 2020. "Effects of International Crude Oil Prices on Energy Consumption in China." Energies 13, no. 15: 3891.

Journal article
Published: 08 April 2020 in Sustainable Cities and Society
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Urban rail transit (URT) is shown to mitigate numerous contemporary urban problems (e.g., traffic congestion and environmental degradation). To reap such gains, many Chinese cities have actively constructed URT and/or have been on their way of doing so. However, these URT projects often encumber local governments with debt. Value capture schemes can be used to finance URT development. To implement such schemes, we need to understand the relationship between URT and property prices. Despite numerous studies on this topic in other countries, limited empirical studies in urban China have been conducted. Moreover, most previous studies are silent on two issues that are important to value capture, namely: (1) whether transfer stations provide a larger housing price premiums than regular stations, and (2) whether the price effect of URT accessibility is more perceptible in the suburban area than that in the urban. This study contributes to our understanding of these issues by constructing a set of hedonic pricing models using price data from 722 residential complexes in the vicinity of a URT line in Shenzhen, China. Our empirical results show that (1) URT has a positive impact on nearby property prices; (2) the positive impact diminishes quickly as the distance to URT station increases; (3) transfer stations have a larger positive effect on nearby property prices than regular stations; and (4) the price effects of URT accessibility are stronger in the suburban area than in the urban. The first two findings are in line with most previous studies, but the last two findings are seldom reported in existing literature. Practical implications of our findings, such as differential, location-specific value capture schemes, are further discussed.

ACS Style

Linchuan Yang; Yang Chen; Nenglai Xu; Rui Zhao; K.W. Chau; Shijian Hong. Place-varying impacts of urban rail transit on property prices in Shenzhen, China: Insights for value capture. Sustainable Cities and Society 2020, 58, 102140 .

AMA Style

Linchuan Yang, Yang Chen, Nenglai Xu, Rui Zhao, K.W. Chau, Shijian Hong. Place-varying impacts of urban rail transit on property prices in Shenzhen, China: Insights for value capture. Sustainable Cities and Society. 2020; 58 ():102140.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Linchuan Yang; Yang Chen; Nenglai Xu; Rui Zhao; K.W. Chau; Shijian Hong. 2020. "Place-varying impacts of urban rail transit on property prices in Shenzhen, China: Insights for value capture." Sustainable Cities and Society 58, no. : 102140.

Journal article
Published: 13 February 2020 in Sustainability
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Understanding the relationship between tourism demand and retail property prices is of great significance to tourist destinations, especially shopping destinations. The increase in tourism demand may alter the implicit prices of certain retail property characteristics (e.g., age and accessibility to transit). This study examines how tourism demand (measured by tourist volume) affects retail property prices in the tourist precinct of a shopping destination, namely Hong Kong. The implementation of the policy Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 2003 in Hong Kong has substantially increased tourist shoppers from Mainland China, and it is used as a quasi-natural experiment of the increased tourist volume. Spatial and non-spatial hedonic pricing models are developed based on the ground-floor retail property transaction data of Causeway Bay, Hong Kong before and after the IVS (1993–2011). The findings of this study are as follows. (1) Accessibility to transit has a larger positive price effect after the implementation of the IVS. (2) The implicit price of accessibility to accommodation facilities is not significantly altered by the implementation of the IVS. (3) Age has a larger negative price effect after the implementation of the IVS. The first two outcomes are related to the economic concerns of tourist shoppers, while the last can be explained by their hometown experience. Finally, practical implications are discussed.

ACS Style

Yan Liu; Linchuan Yang; Kwong Wing Chau. Impacts of Tourism Demand on Retail Property Prices in a Shopping Destination. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1361 .

AMA Style

Yan Liu, Linchuan Yang, Kwong Wing Chau. Impacts of Tourism Demand on Retail Property Prices in a Shopping Destination. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (4):1361.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yan Liu; Linchuan Yang; Kwong Wing Chau. 2020. "Impacts of Tourism Demand on Retail Property Prices in a Shopping Destination." Sustainability 12, no. 4: 1361.

Articles
Published: 16 December 2019 in Planning Practice & Research
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Informed by a Coasian transaction cost paradigm enriched by the concept of Schumpeterian innovations, this paper discusses the advantages of using experimental coastal reclamation of the sea to build new cities with a policy for fostering innovations. A new development area at the margin of Shenzhen in China, Qianhai, is used to demonstrate how urban expansion by urban sprawling in a megacity can be avoided by reclamation of marginal land as analytically less costly than along intra-marginal land and more suitable for experimentation for the type of megacity concept that Qianhai aims to achieve.

ACS Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai; K. W. Chau; Frank T. Lorne; Weisheng Lu. Experimental Coastal Land Reclamation: Qianhai as a Case Interpreted. Planning Practice & Research 2019, 35, 51 -61.

AMA Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai, K. W. Chau, Frank T. Lorne, Weisheng Lu. Experimental Coastal Land Reclamation: Qianhai as a Case Interpreted. Planning Practice & Research. 2019; 35 (1):51-61.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai; K. W. Chau; Frank T. Lorne; Weisheng Lu. 2019. "Experimental Coastal Land Reclamation: Qianhai as a Case Interpreted." Planning Practice & Research 35, no. 1: 51-61.

Journal article
Published: 25 November 2019 in Cities
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This is an original and first statistical inquiry into the potential effect of compassion on the pattern of decisions made by a statutory planning appeal board (PAB). As a contribution to the empirical research on development control using disaggregate data, it seeks to statistically evaluate by probit modelling the decision-making factors behind Hong Kong's PAB decisions under the Town Planning Ordinance from 1990 to 2018. It found no evidence to support compassion of the PAB members had played any role in shaping their decisions upon planning appeal hearings. Incidentally, it was established that planning appeal decisions were affected by the gender mix of PAB such that the probability of a planning appeal case being dismissed increased with female presence on a PAB panel. This empirical finding deserves further in-depth analysis as this should open up new arrays of research with important policy and practical implications.

ACS Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai; K.W. Chau; M.H. Chua; Josephine Liang. Compassion & planning: Empirical analysis of gender background of a planning tribunal on its decisions. Cities 2019, 97, 102522 .

AMA Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai, K.W. Chau, M.H. Chua, Josephine Liang. Compassion & planning: Empirical analysis of gender background of a planning tribunal on its decisions. Cities. 2019; 97 ():102522.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai; K.W. Chau; M.H. Chua; Josephine Liang. 2019. "Compassion & planning: Empirical analysis of gender background of a planning tribunal on its decisions." Cities 97, no. : 102522.

Journal article
Published: 21 October 2019 in Sustainability
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Most studies focused on the introduction of new technologies have not investigated the psychological factors affecting the willingness to use them or conducted empirical studies to explore whether willingness and actual construction safety knowledge-sharing behavior are associated with fewer construction incidents. We conducted face-to-face and LinkedIn open-ended interviews as well as a global survey to study the willingness and actual behavior to share construction knowledge via social software Web 2.0, Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile apps. Then, the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) for willingness and actual knowledge-sharing behavior, as well as the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) Neural Network were used to illustrate the effect of various factors on predicting the willingness to share knowledge via Web 2.0, mobile apps and IoT. Results of the interviews found that practitioners use IoT for knowledge sharing, mainly because they do not want to fall behind the curve. PLS-SEM and MLP revealed that practitioners share construction safety knowledge are not driven by safety-related reasons such as safety awareness enhancement but perceived organization support from their companies. Employees who agree that their organization cared about their employees’ well-being was the strongest predictor in influencing people’s decision to use tools for knowledge sharing. Moreover, many respondents claimed that factors such as monetary rewards have little impact on motivating people to use tools for knowledge sharing.

ACS Style

Rita Yi Man Li; Beiqi Tang; Kwong Wing Chau. Sustainable Construction Safety Knowledge Sharing: A Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling and A Feedforward Neural Network Approach. Sustainability 2019, 11, 5831 .

AMA Style

Rita Yi Man Li, Beiqi Tang, Kwong Wing Chau. Sustainable Construction Safety Knowledge Sharing: A Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling and A Feedforward Neural Network Approach. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (20):5831.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rita Yi Man Li; Beiqi Tang; Kwong Wing Chau. 2019. "Sustainable Construction Safety Knowledge Sharing: A Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling and A Feedforward Neural Network Approach." Sustainability 11, no. 20: 5831.

Journal article
Published: 13 September 2019 in Sustainability
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Freight transportation modes consume enormous amounts of energy. This paper estimates the long- and short-run effects of fuel prices on freight volumes in various modes of transportation in Shanghai. Data included monthly changes during the period 2009–2016. Air cargo series were suggested to include one or two unit roots, and hence were removed from the cointegration analysis. Both the Phillips–Ouliaris and Johansen tests did not detect long-run relationships between real fuel prices, water cargo, road, and rail freight. Conventional first-differenced VAR (vector autoregressive) models were estimated. Overall, whether in the short- or long-run, real fuel prices did not influence freight transportation volumes. However, we found a Granger causality running from rail to road freight, as in the short-run (one month), a 1% change in rail freight would lead to a reduction of 0.07% in road freight. Therefore, simply by increasing fuel prices, the government could seldom encourage the shift from energy-inefficient modes of freight transportation to energy-efficient ones to achieve a sustainable freight transport. The allocation of more time and routes for rail freight traffic and the reduction in rail freight taxes may increase the rail freight volume and hence decrease the overall energy use. Our findings, to some degree, contribute to freight transportation economics. Future research may examine the impact of gasoline prices or diesel prices on freight traffic volumes.

ACS Style

Gaolu Zou; K. W. Chau. Long- and Short-Run Effects of Fuel Prices on Freight Transportation Volumes in Shanghai. Sustainability 2019, 11, 5017 .

AMA Style

Gaolu Zou, K. W. Chau. Long- and Short-Run Effects of Fuel Prices on Freight Transportation Volumes in Shanghai. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (18):5017.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gaolu Zou; K. W. Chau. 2019. "Long- and Short-Run Effects of Fuel Prices on Freight Transportation Volumes in Shanghai." Sustainability 11, no. 18: 5017.

Research article
Published: 19 June 2019 in Sustainable Development
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Informed by the theoretical framework of sustainable development and economic theories including the cluster theory and the corollary of the Coase Theorem, this paper empirically investigates the economic impact of architectural heritage in Hong Kong. Using the hedonic price model, the research examines the economic impact of 50 publicly owned versus 50 privately owned heritage buildings on adjacent residential property prices with a sample size of over 43,240 property transaction records spanning a time period of 10 years. The research supports that heritage conservation can promote economic sustainability aside from cultural sustainability and social engagement. This research benefits government policymakers, urban planners, architects, and heritage conservationists by contributing new knowledge to the studies on sustainable urban development, heritage conservation, and cultural economics.

ACS Style

Tristance Kee; K.W. Chau. Economic sustainability of heritage conservation in Hong Kong: The impact of heritage buildings on adjacent property prices. Sustainable Development 2019, 28, 308 -319.

AMA Style

Tristance Kee, K.W. Chau. Economic sustainability of heritage conservation in Hong Kong: The impact of heritage buildings on adjacent property prices. Sustainable Development. 2019; 28 (1):308-319.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tristance Kee; K.W. Chau. 2019. "Economic sustainability of heritage conservation in Hong Kong: The impact of heritage buildings on adjacent property prices." Sustainable Development 28, no. 1: 308-319.

Journal article
Published: 14 June 2019 in Research in Transportation Economics
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Previous studies suggest that generally, access to public services has a positive impact on housing price. However, most of them are silent on whether the impact varies across different housing submarkets. In some contexts like China, compared with high-end counterparts, low-end housing purchasers, generally, have lower income and thus lower car availability (and transportation mobility). As such, they may prefer and attach a higher value to living in the proximity of basic public services (which are essential to life, such as transit). This is likely to be applicable to contexts where purchasing and/or using cars are not fully affordable for low-income households. We use 22,586 second-hand housing data in Xiamen (China) to assess the differential price impacts of access to basic public services in low and high-end submarkets. Results from two-sample two-tailed t-tests and F-tests and hedonic modeling confirm several findings: (1) there are systematic differences between access to basic public services in low- and high-end properties; (2) the two housing submarkets do not follow the same pricing mechanism; (3) access to transit, commercial centers, shopping centers, and sports and cultural centers has positive and significant price impacts in the low-end housing submarket. Yet, this is not the case in the high-end counterpart; (4) the effect of access to basic public services on housing price varies across the two submarkets: typically, access to basic public services has a larger positive price impact on low-end properties than on high-end ones; (5) interestingly, access to shopping centers has a larger price impact in the high-end housing submarket than in the low-end. The findings of this study basically support our hypothesis and also benefit policy prescription. As such, practical implications of the findings are discussed finally. Notably, our argument is that low-end properties buyers are more willing to pay for access to “basic” public services rather than that to premium/high-quality services. By contrast, based on scattered evidence from this study and existing literature, we suspect, though definitely cannot conclude, that high-end properties buyers have a predilection for premium/high-quality amenities, such as natural beauty and prestigious schools.

ACS Style

Linchuan Yang; K.W. Chau; Xu Wang. Are low-end housing purchasers more willing to pay for access to basic public services? Evidence from China. Research in Transportation Economics 2019, 76, 100734 .

AMA Style

Linchuan Yang, K.W. Chau, Xu Wang. Are low-end housing purchasers more willing to pay for access to basic public services? Evidence from China. Research in Transportation Economics. 2019; 76 ():100734.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Linchuan Yang; K.W. Chau; Xu Wang. 2019. "Are low-end housing purchasers more willing to pay for access to basic public services? Evidence from China." Research in Transportation Economics 76, no. : 100734.

Journal article
Published: 20 May 2019 in Sustainability
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Site safety is one critical factor affecting the sustainability of skyscrapers and decoration, repair, and maintenance projects. Many newly-built skyscrapers exceed 50 storeys in Hong Kong and decoration, repair, and maintenance projects are widely performed to extend the lifespans of buildings. Although many cities do not contain skyscrapers at present, this will change in the future. Likewise, more decoration, repair, and maintenance projects will emerge. Thus, the present research, which compares the safety risks among the new and DSR projects, provides insights for builders, policymakers, and safety personnel. Moreover, research studies which rank and compare decoration, repair, and maintenance projects and new skyscraper constructions are scarce. The use of the evidence-based practice approach, which aims to narrow the gap between practice and academia in construction safety research, is the first of its kind. In this paper, we firstly provide a systematic literature review from 1999 to 2019 regarding construction safety, and then study the industry’s perspectives by analysing the construction practitioners’ interview results, court cases, and analytic hierarchy process survey results to compare them with the literature. It is found that the generation gap and prolonged working hours lead to accidents—a phenomenon which is unique in Hong Kong and absent from the literature. It also reveals that most accidents happen on new building sites due to tower crane failure, while those on DSR projects are linked with the circular saw. Although many of the contractors involved in new buildings are wealthier than DSR contractors, it is surprising to learn that lack of funding for safety is the most important factor linked to safety risks on the sites.

ACS Style

Rita Yi Man Li; Kwong Wing Chau; Frankie Fanjie Zeng. Ranking of Risks for Existing and New Building Works. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2863 .

AMA Style

Rita Yi Man Li, Kwong Wing Chau, Frankie Fanjie Zeng. Ranking of Risks for Existing and New Building Works. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (10):2863.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rita Yi Man Li; Kwong Wing Chau; Frankie Fanjie Zeng. 2019. "Ranking of Risks for Existing and New Building Works." Sustainability 11, no. 10: 2863.

Articles
Published: 23 April 2019 in International Journal of Construction Management
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Besides the well-known positive impacts of public sector-led urban redevelopment projects on housing prices in their vicinity, we found that there were less noticeable negative impacts on the prices of very new and old housing units nearby, especially in high density urban areas where housing is mainly in the form of multiple-owned high-rise apartment units. First, the prices of older housing units declined faster after the announcement of a nearby public sector-led development. We explain this by decomposing the value of the property into existing use value and real redevelopment option value. The latter component was significantly reduced by a nearby public sector-led redevelopment. Second, for the very new nearby housing units, their prices also declined when there was nearby redevelopment due to an expected increase in the supply of new housing units. Based on second-hand housing transaction records in the vicinity of public sector-led redevelopment projects over a 12-year period, we were able to isolate the above negative impacts from other external effects. The empirical results support the existence of both negative impacts of public sector-led urban redevelopment projects.

ACS Style

K. W. Chau; L. W. C. Lai; J. Liang; F. F. Ng; K. T. Wong. The negative impact of public sector-led redevelopment projects on the prices of old and new housing units in high density urban areas. International Journal of Construction Management 2019, 1 -9.

AMA Style

K. W. Chau, L. W. C. Lai, J. Liang, F. F. Ng, K. T. Wong. The negative impact of public sector-led redevelopment projects on the prices of old and new housing units in high density urban areas. International Journal of Construction Management. 2019; ():1-9.

Chicago/Turabian Style

K. W. Chau; L. W. C. Lai; J. Liang; F. F. Ng; K. T. Wong. 2019. "The negative impact of public sector-led redevelopment projects on the prices of old and new housing units in high density urban areas." International Journal of Construction Management , no. : 1-9.

Journal article
Published: 23 January 2019 in Land Use Policy
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Informed by property rights economics, this paper explores some unique advantages of reclamation, as a form of expansionist dynamic zoning, compared to densification of existing built up urban land and conversion of rural and peri-urban land. One major argument is that modern reclamation package, in light of global circulation of capital, can be one comprehensive project that avoids old mistakes and tries out new ideas without upsetting pre-existing development or interests. It then explains, with the help of statistics collected from a historical study of land reclamation of Hong Kong, that the future urban development in this open economy will be arrested if she gives up reclamation. The loss of corporate memory, using civil service staff movements based on the Staff List, seldom used in Hong Kong studies on town planning, as a proxy, in strategic planning is advanced as a factor behind the current situation.

ACS Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai; K.W Chau; Frank T Lorne. “Forgetting by not doing”: An institutional memory inquiry of forward planning for land production by reclamation. Land Use Policy 2019, 82, 796 -806.

AMA Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai, K.W Chau, Frank T Lorne. “Forgetting by not doing”: An institutional memory inquiry of forward planning for land production by reclamation. Land Use Policy. 2019; 82 ():796-806.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lawrence W.C. Lai; K.W Chau; Frank T Lorne. 2019. "“Forgetting by not doing”: An institutional memory inquiry of forward planning for land production by reclamation." Land Use Policy 82, no. : 796-806.

Journal article
Published: 14 July 2018 in Energies
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A majority of energy is consumed to control the indoor environment for human activities and industrial production. The demand for energies for these two uses are reflected in demand for different types of real estate and the volume of industrial outputs. The purpose of this study is to examine the long-run equilibrium and short-run dynamics between real energy prices and demand for different types of real estate and industrial output in China. Energy prices are measured in the real price of fuels and power. Demand for different types of real estate is measured in their sales volume in the first hand market, that is, floor areas of new real estate sold by developers. Industrial output is measured by the net output (value added) of the industrial sector. All data series were tested for stationarity (i.e., the existence of a unit root) before testing for a co-integration relationship. We found no long-term equilibrium relationship between energy prices and the demand for real estate and industrial output as predicted by theory, probably due to increased supply of energy efficient buildings. There is also no short-run relationship between energy prices and demand for housing due to the increase in vacancy rate resulting from speculative demand for housing. However, demand for commercial properties appeared to lead energy prices. Finally, there is strong evidence suggesting that an increase in energy prices will significantly reduce industrial output but not vice versa.

ACS Style

K. W. Chau; Gaolu Zou. Energy Prices, Real Estate Sales and Industrial Output in China. Energies 2018, 11, 1847 .

AMA Style

K. W. Chau, Gaolu Zou. Energy Prices, Real Estate Sales and Industrial Output in China. Energies. 2018; 11 (7):1847.

Chicago/Turabian Style

K. W. Chau; Gaolu Zou. 2018. "Energy Prices, Real Estate Sales and Industrial Output in China." Energies 11, no. 7: 1847.

Journal article
Published: 07 July 2015 in The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics
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This study investigates how information asymmetry affects the rent and vacancy rate adjust in response to external shocks using empirical data from the Hong Kong office market. We show that information asymmetry about the quality of real estate asset will lead to slower rent adjustments in response to external shocks. Information asymmetry makes it more difficult for the landlord and prospective tenant to agree on a new equilibrium rent, which also leads to temporary deviation of the vacancy rate form the natural vacancy rate. Compared to a low-end office unit, information asymmetry is less serious for a high-end office unit since a larger proportion of its rental value is derived from its location attributes which are easily observable by both the landlord and prospective tenant. One empirical implication is that high-end office rents adjust faster when there is a short-term disequilibrium. The other side of the coin is that the vacancy rates of high-end offices are less responsive to external shocks assuming that the natural vacancy rates are relatively stable over time. Empirical data from the Hong Kong office sub-markets are consistent with these implications.

ACS Style

K. W. Chau; S. K. Wong. Information Asymmetry and the Rent and Vacancy Rate Dynamics in the Office Market. The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics 2015, 53, 162 -183.

AMA Style

K. W. Chau, S. K. Wong. Information Asymmetry and the Rent and Vacancy Rate Dynamics in the Office Market. The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics. 2015; 53 (2):162-183.

Chicago/Turabian Style

K. W. Chau; S. K. Wong. 2015. "Information Asymmetry and the Rent and Vacancy Rate Dynamics in the Office Market." The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics 53, no. 2: 162-183.