Behavioral real estate

The decision of buying residential property may be one of the most important transactions people will ever make, and the emotional attachment when houses become homes is inevitable. Nevertheless, this stylized fact appears to be underrepresented in the literature. While its importance is undeniable, the consumption function, as well as the social and emotional perspective of real estate are often neglected. We provide an overview of the current state of affairs of the main themes in which the behavioral approach intersects with real estate to gain a deeper understanding of the built environment. It seems to be a general consensus that behavioral studies can help to provide insight into property markets, but that a large component of behavioral decision making is left undefined.