Improving real estate education through the use of agent-based participatory simulations and GIS in an artificial housing market

Abstract

Agent-based participatory simulations have been extensively applied in various areas of scientific research, and even in an educational context. In real estate, however, few studies have used agent-based modeling (ABM), and no study has introduced the tool for real estate educational purposes. We are the first to introduce ABM to real estate education. We discuss its background and the motivation behind the idea of the application, provide a conceptual framework to design agent-based participatory simulations in a real estate education setting, and develop two prototypes of artificial housing markets using the software platforms: NetLogo and HUBNET. With the inclusion of geographic information system (GIS) models, the agent-based participatory simulations combine to bring to life real estate economic concepts offering another pedagogical opportunity for students to absorb real estate information.