Stacked Ensemble Model for the Automatic Valuation of Residential Properties in South Korea: A Case Study on Jeju Island

Abstract

While the use of machine learning (ML) in automated real estate valuation is growing, research on stacking ML models into ensembles remains limited. In this paper, we propose a stacked ensemble model for valuing residential properties. By applying our models to a comprehensive dataset of residential real estate transactions from Jeju Island, spanning 2012 to 2021, we demonstrate that the predictive power of ML-based models can be enhanced. Our findings indicate that the stacked ensemble model, which combines predictions using ridge regression, outperforms all individual algorithms across multiple metrics. This model not only minimizes prediction errors but also provides the most stable and consistent results, as evidenced by the lowest standard deviation in both absolute errors and absolute percentage errors. Additionally, we employed the decision tree method to analyze the conditions under which specific features yield more accurate results or less reliable outcomes. It was observed that both the size and age of an apartment significantly impact prediction performance, with smaller and older complexes exhibiting lower accuracy and higher error rates.