Alexander Hierro Ferreira de Souza

This study set out to identify and analyze the factors that influence the formation of rental prices for residential apartments in the city of Belém. The approach adopted was based on the hedonic price theory, which considers that the rental price of an apartment reflects the implicit prices of its attributes—structural, locational, and neighborhood quality. The sample used consisted of 259 observations, corresponding to the rental advertisements of the representative apartments in each building. The ordinary least squares (OLS), spatial lag model (SLM), and geographically weighted regression (GWR) techniques were used in the statistical analysis in this study. The results of the OLS model showed statistical significance between the attributes analyzed and the rental price of the apartments. In turn, the SLM indicated that the structural attributes have an impact on the rental prices of neighboring apartments, configuring a contagion effect in the real estate market. The GWR model showed that there was no spatial heterogeneity in the effects of the determinants on apartment rental prices throughout the sample.

This paper is based on the recognition of a phenomenon occurring in the real estate market of Belém, Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon. The phenomenon refers to the relative increase in the size of the balconies of residential apartments launched in the city between 2005 and 2017 by construction companies, with the aim of increasing the number of units built per tower. Given that balconies were originally areas of low frequency for the occupants of apartments in this region, the aim of this article was to identify and analyze the institutional factors that support this product development strategy, which is becoming increasingly consolidated among companies. To investigate this phenomenon, we collected data from official documents provided by the Municipal Urban Planning Department (Secretaria Municipal de Urbanismo—SEURB), specifically focusing on the launch of residential high-rise buildings during the specified period. Regression techniques with ordinary least squares methods were applied, as well as econometric models of spatial autocorrelation. The results of the hypothesis tests confirmed the relationship between the restrictive parameters imposed by the city’s Urban Master Plan and the relative increase in apartment balconies. The spatial autocorrelation models confirmed the spatial spillover effect, showing that apartment projects with this characteristic tend to be concentrated in certain areas of the city, influencing each other. In order to discuss this phenomenon, the institutional theory was the protagonist of the analysis, showing how an organizational strategy can adapt to the authority that regulates the occupation of urban land in the city, meeting the two market forces and the demand and supply of apartments.