Commuting and Residential Decisions in the Greater Wellington Region

Abstract

This paper studies residential, commuting and car ownership decisions in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand. We establish an estimation methodology that is robust to endogeneity between house prices and residential decisions. The paper also makes extensive use of Geographic Information Systems calculations, allowing us to evaluate the impact of schools, greenspaces and sunlight on decisions. The paper finds that commuting decisions are highly affected by demographic variables, that amenities are important in determining neighbourhood preferences, and that school quality, contrary to popular belief, has relatively little effect on decisions.