Reserve Prices Yield Reference Price Effects 75 INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE REVIEW 2017 Vol. 20 No. 1: pp. 75 – 104 Do Reserve Prices Yield Reference Price Effects in Korean Court Auctions of Residential Real Estate? Han-Jang No National Pension Service Gyeongin Regional Headquarter, Gyeonggi-do 442- 766, South Korea. Phone: 82-10-9132-6410. Email:
[email protected]. Dai-Won Kim School of Urban Planning & Real Estate Studies, Dankook University, Gyeonggi-do 448-701, South Korea. Phone: 82-10-5350-2613. Email:
[email protected]. Jung-Suk Yu* School of Urban Planning & Real Estate Studies, College of Social Science, Dankook University 152, Jukjeon-ro, Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 448-701, South Korea. Phone: 82-31-8005-3338. Email:
[email protected] This study examines whether the reserve prices in court auctions of residential real estate in Seoul, Korea result in reference price effects by influencing the amount of the successful bid. We also explore whether the sensitivity of these reference price effects differ with housing size and assess whether the expected rate of the selling price can be predicted based on the different reserve price levels. The panel data estimates presented herein show that reserve prices positively influence the final property transfer prices; in other words, the reserve prices yield strong reference price effects. The results of the ordinary least square regressions show that the sensitivity of the reference price effects differs with housing size, albeit in an inconsistent manner. Finally, the response surface methodology analysis indicates * Corresponding author 76 No, Kim and Yu that different reserve prices lead to different reference price effects with locality across the Seoul metropolitan area.