Determinants of environmental preference by housing consumers in Guangzhou, China, using analytic hierarchy process

Abstract

This study analyzes the determinants of housing environmental preference by

consumers in Guangzhou, China. Preferences of different housing environments

have been well researched by scholars in architecture, urban planning, and urban

environmental science. However, few studies shed light on housing environment

by measuring physical/tangible and social/intangible attributes with hierarchy

models. Based on the literatures on housing environment, preference, satisfaction

and housing quality, this thesis explores the housing environment preference by

identifying the environmental attributes which are grouped into three categories:

mobility, community facility, and community social capital.

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to estimate the relative

importance of those environmental attributes, which are further organized into a

hierarchical structure. Housing consumers and property experts in Guangzhou

participate in the survey and they represent a wide spectrum of environmental

performance demands as well as socio-environmental backgrounds in the sample.

Statistical weights of the factors based on their judgments are then generated.

It is found that mobility factors, including public traffic network, proximity to

workplace, have dominant importance in the housing environment. Social capital

factors and facility factors, including sense of safety, medical and health facility,

and education facility are also regarded important. Property experts and

consumers have diverse perspectives on the demand of end users as they represent

different interest groups. Furthermore, different age groups of housing consumers

attach different relative importance to the factors studied.

This study develops a method to assess the relative importance of the environment

factors in housing preferences, and provides a useful tool in the field of

environmental assessment. Instead of measuring the monetary value of different

attributes in the market, the findings of this thesis help to understand the general

demand pattern and preferences of consumers in the housing market based on

multidimensional values and benefits. It is hoped that the findings will offer

more information for urban planners and housing developers from a social and

cultural perspective.