Neighborhood Characteristics and Housing Values within the San Juan, MSA, Puerto Rico

This research uses traditional ordinary least square (OLS) global regression and a form of local regression, Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), to examine the influence of neighborhood characteristics on housing values within the San Juan, Puerto Rico MSA and discusses the importance and outcomes of neighborhood effects on housing values. In addition, it disaggregates the influence of the presence of national groups, such as Cubans and Dominicans, instead of grouping them into the monolithic group of “Hispanics.” It has been common practice in the literature to aggregate very diverse nationalities such as Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans into a single monolithic group labeled “Hispanics.” The use of GWR helps to identify neighborhood effects because it incorporates local spatial relationships (or exceptions) about neighborhood characteristics and housing values that occur across the study area highlighting the importance of context.