Long-run housing price indices and determinants: New data from Huizhou, China, 1570–1949

Economic studies on historical housing markets have gained increased popularity in recent years, yet remain limited by data scarcity. In this paper, a novel housing transaction dataset with more than 1000 observations from the historic Huizhou prefecture in south China is collected. This study develops housing price indices spanning the late Ming, Qing, and Republic of China eras (1570–1949). Results from hedonic ordinary and quantile regressions reveal unique housing price determinants tied to the region's cultural background: property orientation, proximity to ancestral halls and Buddhist temples, and seller's gender. Sellers being in urgent financial situations is positively correlated with the sales price.