A quest for status or a desire to fit in? An examination of suburban “monster homes” as a positional good

ABSTRACT

This study examines consumer preferences for new large suburban single-family houses—monster homes—through the economic concept of positional goods. Previous empirical studies of the positionality of housing are few, and those that exist use abstract survey questions to measure it. Through a visual preference survey, this study simulates a real-world house-choice scenario using environmental scenes of single-family houses in their neighborhood contexts in order to test the effect of the positionality of housing on individuals’ house preferences. Using a mixed-effect generalized linear model with crossed random effects, this research reveals that monster homes are moderately positional but the aesthetic characteristics of houses often outweigh positional concerns. Moreover, the study finds that men are more likely than women to prefer a positional house to a nonpositional house and that people with lower incomes are more likely to choose a positional house than those with higher incomes.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Suzanne Lanyi Charles

Suzanne Lanyi Charles is an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Baker Program in Real Estate at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Her research addresses redevelopment and neighborhood change in older inner-ring suburban neighborhoods.