House Prices and Flood Risk Exposure: An Integration of Hedonic Property Model and Spatial Econometric Analysis

Abstract

The impact of climate change is devastating in developing countries where flood protection and insurance schemes are limited. Certain parts of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam are under the constant threat of inundation due to sea-level rise. We integrate the hedonic property model in a difference-in-differences framework and spatial econometric analysis into a single analytical framework to estimate the economic effect of pluvial flooding. We find prices for affected houses were discounted by 9% after a large flood event on 30 September 2017. This research contributes to the existing literature as follows. First, we study the economic impact of pluvial floods, which has received less attention in existing studies where large and irregular floods are their focus. Second, the inclusion of legal status as a control variable accounts for the unique character of the Vietnamese housing market. Third, we also identify the recovery of house prices after the flood event.