Measurement and Valuation of Factors Affecting Housing Choice Using a Choice Experiment Method: Viewpoints of Households Living at Old Urban Textures of Isfahan

Due to the rapid modernization process، we can see the inefficiency and obsolescence of urban textures in Isfahan alike the most Iran’s cities. Hence، renovation development of old textures should be one of the main goals in modernization of Isfahan. Analyzing the widespread dimensions of housing and identifying the ranking ways of different attributes of residential units by consumers is the most important step for being successful in housing projects. Since housing attributes are the non-marketed goods، we need to use non-market evaluation method to evaluate them. In this paper Choice Experiment Method (CEM) has been used to evaluate and determine the consumer willingness to pay for various housing attributes. For this purpose، one of the old textures of Isfahan was selected and a sample of households living in that area was randomly drawn with 120 observations. Data was collected using choice experiment questionnaires and analyzed using STATA and EXCEL softwares. The results show that choice of residential unit is a function of 7 attributes including land area، quality and type of materials used in residential units، neighborhood security، access to major city centers، exemption from charge payments for construction، the amount of loan paid for construction and price of residential unit. Based on the results، the most effective variable is the land area; and residents have a high willingness to pay for this attribute rather than the other attributes.