Designed a study to assess the different layers of decisions
What happens to those who already had plans to relocate
What happens to those who had no issues with their residence
Also, how are households behaving in the new emerging market
In a stable market, utility maximizing theory seems reasonable; in an unstable market, does utility maximizing still hold?
Secretary problem solvers might be more applicable?
Once you interview a person, you have to make the decision, once you wait the market will change
Stated Preference Design
Attributes
Dwelling type, region, price, area, tenure type, neighborhood, access to public transit, access to highway, parking availability, walk access to school, office hours, telecommuting option
Conditions
Ask the scenario in 3 different conditions
COVID is no longer considered a thread due to vaccine
COVID is a new normal
COVID creates a second wave and we go into shutdown
Scenario Design
See the independent affect of each attribute, but that requires a huge sample size
Takes synthetic variance and covariance matrix and minimize it so it approaches independence for the attributes
Sample
From early July to late July
75% response rate
Sample distribution is closely matching the population distribution
Findings
Factors that affect long-term choice before the pandemic and after pandemic shifted such that proximity to services and stores is no longer important
No trends in relocation was found
Conclusions
Based on this study, COVID seems to be a sudden shock in the system and not a long term effect