Identification and analysis of housing submarkets in Tehran metropolis

Studying the housing market at the national level does not necessarily reflect the characteristics of this market at the regional level. Therefore, the concept of submarkets or housing submarkets was proposed by researchers. Housing submarkets are a set of dwellings that have similar characteristics. They are reasonably close substitutes for one another, yet relatively poor substitutes for dwelling in other submarkets. Identifying housing submarkets makes it possible to predict housing prices more accurately. Moreover, it helps planners and policymakers to make better decisions. Despite the importance of this issue, few studies have analyzed housing submarkets in developing countries. In this article, spatial analysis of housing submarkets in 22 districts of Tehran City has been considered. The results of two stages of factor analysis on 22 variables consisting of housing structure and characteristics of housing supply and demand variables show a significant relationship between 21 variables. These variables have been reduced to 6 factors: price and ownership of housing, ability to provide housing, land and housing supply, spatial characteristics, environmental characteristics, and welfare status of households. Then, the districts of Tehran are divided into 5 clusters of the housing submarket by cluster analysis. Comparing the average variables in different submarkets will clarify a huge difference between them. So that the average price of each square meter of residential land and each square meter of residential infrastructure in submarket 1 is 5.7 times and 3.4 times that of submarket 5, respectively. Location indicators also show significant differences between submarkets. It seems that the difference in the level of facilities and services is one of the determining factors of housing prices in Tehran. Submarkets with higher housing prices have higher facilities and services. Therefore, it is not possible to plan for all regions with the same policy, and the difference in housing characteristics in submarkets should be taken into consideration.