Call for Special Issue Papers:
Property value analysis using ZTRAX – Applications under the Approaching Sunset
Journal of Housing Economics and Land Economics

The ZTRAX database from Zillow has allowed researchers in environmental, housing, regional, urban, and related fields in economics to study property markets at broad spatial and temporal scales. However, the access sunset of ZTRAX scheduled for September 2023 has created time urgency among researchers for finishing projects and publishing papers. In recognition of this firm deadline the editors of Land Economics (LE) and Journal of Housing Economics (JHE) are teaming up to offer coordinated special issues of the two journals that will (a) feature property value studies that exploit the large spatial and temporal scales of ZTRAX data; and (b) adhere to a schedule that completes the review process prior to the approaching deadline.

Papers should explore methodological and policy-relevant topics that demonstrate the opportunities of large spatial and time scale sales data that cannot be accomplished with a few years of sales data for one or two communities, counties, or housing markets. Papers that merge ZTRAX data with environmental, social, and other types of large scale spatial and temporal data to enhance estimation insights are encouraged. Papers that compare estimation with ZTRAX to other large scale spatial and temporal property sales data will be considered.

We expect that the LE special issue will feature environment and resource themed applications while the JHE special issue will feature housing, regional, urban, and related applications (though there may be overlap across the two journals). The introductions of the two issues will be cross referenced to multiply the impact of the joint paper collections. We anticipate that the collections will be influential illustrations of research exploiting the availability of large-scale property value databases.

Papers will appear in issues of LE and JHE in early- to mid-2024. Given this and the ZTRAX sunset date, interested authors should commit to the following schedule:

• Submission of half-page expression of interest to the editors – 5 May 2022
• Optional participation in an online workshop featuring special issue research – August 2022 
• Manuscript submission deadline – 3 October 2022
• First round decisions issued – 16 December 2022
• Resubmission deadline – 14 April 2023
• Final decision and edits – 30 June 2023

We will use the 5 May deadline to gauge the extent of interest in the initiative and to forecast a division of papers between the two journals. Authors will submit to the special issue editors with a suggested journal, with ultimate placement being decided via coordination among editors and authors. If there is insufficient interest to support two special issues the possibility of reducing to one will be considered.

Please contact LE editor Dan Phaneuf ([email protected]), JHE co-editor Jeff Zabel ([email protected]), or special issue co-editors Kevin Boyle ([email protected]) or Christoph Nolte ([email protected]) with questions or comments.

Best wishes,

Kevin Boyle, Christoph Nolte, Dan Phaneuf, and Jeff Zabel