Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/307269 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics [ISSN:] 1573-045X [Volume:] 68 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] Springer US [Place:] New York, NY [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 235-273
Publisher: 
Springer US, New York, NY
Abstract: 
Data-driven machine learning algorithms have initiated a paradigm shift in hedonic house price and rent modeling through their ability to capture highly complex and non-monotonic relationships. Their superior accuracy compared to parametric model alternatives has been demonstrated repeatedly in the literature. However, the statistical independence of the data implicitly assumed by resampling-based error estimates is unlikely to hold in a real estate context as price-formation processes in property markets are inherently spatial, which leads to spatial dependence structures in the data. When performing conventional cross-validation techniques for model selection and model assessment, spatial dependence between training and test data may lead to undetected overfitting and overoptimistic perception of predictive power. This study sheds light on the bias in cross-validation errors of tree-based algorithms induced by spatial autocorrelation and proposes a bias-reduced spatial cross-validation strategy. The findings confirm that error estimates from non-spatial resampling methods are overly optimistic, whereas spatially conscious techniques are more dependable and can increase generalizability. As accurate and unbiased error estimates are crucial to automated valuation methods, our results prove helpful for applications including, but not limited to, mass appraisal, credit risk management, portfolio allocation and investment decision making.
Subjects: 
Hedonic modeling
Machine learning
Spatial autocorrelation
Spatial cross-validation
Mass appraisal
Automated valuation models
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.