Comparative analysis of machine learning models in predicting housing prices: a case study of Prishtina's real estate market

Visar Hoxha

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, 2024, vol. 18, issue 3, 694-711

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this study is to carry out a comparative analysis of four machine learning models such as linear regression, decision trees, k-nearest neighbors and support vector regression in predicting housing prices in Prishtina. Design/methodology/approach - Using Python, the models were assessed on a data set of 1,512 property transactions with mean squared error, coefficient of determination, mean absolute error and root mean squared error as metrics. The study also conducts variable importance test. Findings - Upon preprocessing and standardization of the data, the models were trained and tested, with the decision tree model producing the best performance. The variable importance test found the distance from central business district and distance to the road leading to central business district as the most relevant drivers of housing prices across all models, with the exception of support vector machine model, which showed minimal importance for all variables. Originality/value - To the best of the author’s knowledge, the originality of this research rests in its methodological approach and emphasis on Prishtina's real estate market, which has never been studied in this context, and its findings may be generalizable to comparable transitional economies with booming real estate sector like Kosovo.

Keywords: Decision trees; Comparative analysis; Machine learning; Linear regression; Housing prices prediction; Prishtina real estate market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijhmap:ijhma-09-2023-0120

DOI: 10.1108/IJHMA-09-2023-0120

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis is currently edited by Dr Richard Reed

More articles in International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().