Housing market segmentation: An application of convergence tests to Los Angeles region housing

Abstract.

Various techniques have been offered to measure the extent of a market. This paper uses a technique that has gained momentum in the economic growth literature, namely time-series convergence, to identify housing markets in the LA region. Using single-family housing price data over the 1992:1 to 2001:3 period, we find that convergence of housing prices is specific to various county clusters. This suggests that there are unique housing markets throughout the LA region.