Thomas Siddall
Research Specialisations: Urban and Environmental Economics (Applied and Theoretical)
Project Title: Residential Energy Investments: Impacts on Property Prices and Urban Property Markets
Titles of Thesis Chapters:
- Pricing Potential: Understanding the Costs of Unrealised Efficiency
- Love thy Neighbour, or Not: Peer Effects in the Market for Energy Efficient Housing
- Household Location Decisions Under Peer Effects: A Theoretical Approach
Job Sought: Post-Doctoral Research in fields related to Microeconomics
Job Market Paper: Love thy Neighbour, or Not: Peer Effects in the Market for Energy Efficient Housing
Abstract: This paper explores the spatial nature of peer effects in the London property market and how they increase prices and upgrades exclusively in areas with clusters of highly energy efficient properties. By exploiting random variation in the timing of listings to leverage information reported to the market, I find that buyers are attentive to energy efficiency scores at the neighbourhood-level, generating a discontinuity in prices at the border of highly-efficient neighbourhoods (HEN). Premiums exist and persist for such neighbourhoods only when clusters are identifiable through listings and are driven by the upgrades undertaken by households who sort into these neighbourhoods based on preferences for energy efficiency. This induces peer effects for incumbent households who are more likely to make energy efficiency upgrades through exposure to selecting households. A theoretical spatial model is developed to capture the impact of neighbourhood selection through peer-based investment matches on property prices. The model predicts that households pay premiums to locate in neighbourhoods that exhibit match when expected investment returns are higher. Current literature has focused more on the impact of private investments on prices at the property-level, with little research into how one’s peers influence this dynamic. I fill this gap with both empirical and theoretical evidence, while also reflecting on the growing debate surrounding Net Zero and the role of residential emissions.