Demystifying Quantitative Methods in Comparative Housing Research: Dispelling the Myth of Black Magic

With the quantitative–qualitative debate as a basis, this paper considers the relative merits and limitations of applying quantitative methods to comparative housing research. Although the initial discussion takes place in general terms, the example of the impact of an increase in real house prices on real consumers’ expenditure is employed to illustrate the issues that a housing researcher faces when applying statistical techniques to cross-country data. After reviewing the criticisms of the methodology, the paper concludes that quantitative methods should still be the workhorse for comparative housing research, but only if various conditions are satisfied and that the procedures are correctly followed.