Residents’ Demands for Urban Retail: Heterogeneity in Housing Structure Characteristics, Price Quantile, and Space

Abstract

A thorough understanding of residents’ demands plays an important role in realizing the rational distribution of urban retail (UR) and promoting the habitability of cities. Unfortunately, these demands for UR are currently under-researched. To solve this problem, this study aims to quantify the capitalization effect of UR on housing prices and explores the impact of heterogeneity in housing structure characteristics, price quantile, and space on the residents’ demands for UR according to the hedonic price model, quantile regression, and geographically weighted regression in Chengdu. The results of these models show the following: (1) good property management and building sound insulation can reduce the negative influence of UR on residents’ lives; (2) only the owners of low-price houses are willing to pay a premium for UR; and (3) residents’ demands for UR increase from the central area to the peripheral area of Chengdu, and an inverted U-shaped relationship was found between housing prices and the UR level. A comprehensive analysis of the heterogeneity of residents’ demands for UR can provide a reference for planning departments, real-estate developers, and UR owners and promote the sustainable development of UR.