Volume 25 (2017): Issue 3 (September 2017)

Housing markets as well as the overall economy develop unevenly. Business cycles are the result of the diverse dynamics of their development. The housing market, as one of the components of economic systems, is influenced by business cycles, at the same time affecting them as well. It should be noted, however, that the special nature of this market may determine a different course of housing market cycles in comparison with changes in business cycles. The aim of the paper is to identify similarities and differences in the shaping of the housing market cycle and the business cycle. The analysis will be conducted on the basis of experience from the Polish market and selected Western markets.

Studies investigating the relation between risk and return occupy an important place in the discussion about the effectiveness of investing in real estate. A review of the available studies shows that real estate investments are less profitable than stocks, but in terms of risk and return, are usually the best option. This worldwide regularity may not necessarily be presented in Poland, as the Polish market is not fully fledged yet. The analysis presented in this article was performed with a view to reducing a research gap resulting from the lack of comprehensive Polish studies in this field. In the article, data spanning the years from 2006 to 2016 are examined by means of descriptive statistics, measures of risk, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine which of the following investment vehicles - bonds, real estate or stocks - offer the best risk-return ratio. The article has two parts. The analytical part is a review of studies on risk measurement methods and of earlier studies investigating risk and return by a class of assets (particularly real estate). In the empirical part, assets are compared with the use of statistical methods. The results of the risk-return analysis point to the money market as the best option for investors. Stocks and real estate ranked second and third, respectively.

The aim of this article is to shed some light on the difficulty, and at the same time, the unavoidable change towards the embracing by valuers in Poland, of one of the most fundamental principles of property valuation, being “highest and best use” and “hope value”. Both are inherently linked to the interpretation of “market value”. The article offers a detailed analysis of international practice and the most important developments concerning professional standards for property valuers in Poland. The considerations presented herein focus mostly on issues arising out of the interpretation of “market value”. While the legal wording of its Polish definition could be considered similar to the one presented in internationally recognised valuation standards, Polish practice concerning assumptions about the use of a property at the date of valuation is very different.

The development of cities is accompanied by growth of the real estate markets within the suburban zone of the municipal urban area. This is the zone functionally related to the core city, where the processes occurring in the property market result primarily from decisions taken by city dwellers concerning the choice of their place of residence. This is reflected in completed transactions, which influence demographic changes. Therefore, the property market becomes a reflection of urbanization processes taking place in this area. The conducted research concerns an analysis of the property market in the suburban zone of Olsztyn of building plots, single-family houses and residential premise segments in the context of demographic changes. The results of the research present the dynamics and directions of development of the suburban zone. The period of research covers the years of 2007-2015, and the spatial scope covers the level of communes and the surveying sections they are composed of (villages).

Property price indexes are difficult to determine both from the substantive and technical/organizational points of view. Various methods of constructing such indexes have been developed in order to overcome these difficulties. To this end, the author compares two types of indexes: hedonic indexes and ones termed filtered for the purpose of this particular paper. Hedonic index values come from Polish National Bank (NBP) publications, while the filtered indexes have been computed with the use of the 4253H filter on the basis of the NBP announcements on mean property prices. Thus, the results are comparable as both types of indexes are derived from the same input databases. The analysis covers both the comparison of the obtained results as well as a discussion of substantive and technical problems encountered when building the property price indexes.

The decisions of buyers on the housing market are not only the sum of their subjective expectations but also of the perception of real estate through a prism of opinions and suggestions arising from the surroundings. One of the basic criteria driving households determined to meet basic housing needs is security. The aim of the study is to identify the relationship between the transaction prices of housing and the crime rate in the various districts of Szczecin. For this purpose, data from the Regional Police Headquarters in Szczecin (i.e. map of crimes) and transactional data from notarial acts are analyzed in the work. Then, using statistical and econometric models, spatial relationships of the examined crimes are investigated.

One of the main tasks of real estate management is making decisions concerning the location of investments. Taking into consideration the fact that any investment affects, directly or indirectly, the economic development of a commune, it has a significant impact on the local real estate market. Investments that have a negative impact on the environment can contribute to a reduction in the activity of the local real estate market. Upon performing tasks related to the economic development of a region and to an increase in the inhabitants’ quality of life, the activity of the local real estate market increases. The paper presents the role of spatial information systems as a source of data used in decision-making processes related to local investment site selection. Currently, there are spatial information systems functioning as a platform for multi-level information systems on real estate and GIS, on local, regional, national and international markets. In this way, the resources of spatial information are available to all institutions, natural and legal persons. As a result, the acquisition of a series of data can take place at any time and at no cost.

Any attempt to explicitly define the property market involves an interdisciplinary approach. Commonly applied notions referring to the genesis of risk in the area of medicine, humanities and, in particular, social and other sciences, have a significant impact on the strictly technical definition. The juxtaposition of the established definitions concerning the phenomenon of risk is an attempt to refer their types and risk factors to the extensive subject area of risk concerning the property market itself. In the future, this may contribute to the development of new risk analysis methods or methods of determining its probability and, therefore, levelling the effect of uncertainty in developing real estate management processes. The aim of the paper is to carry out a review of literature for a deeper analysis of this issue.