Pursuing the Sustainability of Real Estate Market: The Case of Chinese Land Resources Diversification

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Overall, the paper is well-structured and well-written. The research methodology is clearly explained.

However, the theme of the paper is not clear. The title of the paper is about "sustainability". However, what does sustainability of the real estate sector mean? How can it is be measured? After reading the analysis results, I still cannot see if the market or sector is sustainable or not.

Secondly, what is the contribution of the paper to the theory development?  It seems that the authors have conducted a lot of similar empirical studies before and the research methodology is "borrowed" from others. What makes the current study different or standing out from the existing literature.

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

The submitted article entitled: "Pursuing the Sustainability of Real Estate Market: The Case of Chinese Land Resources Diversification" is a work on an environmental-social topic that can be classified in the Sustainable Development category.

Using time-series econometrics: the error correction model (ECM) and the generalized version of Granger causality, the authors deal with the diversification and specification of individual real estate markets in 6 Chinese megalopolises.

If I first evaluate the work in general, then the statistical modeling used is suitable for this type of research and interesting theoretical results were achieved.

I can also particularly appreciate the organization of the research part and rich literary sources in the theoretical part. Also the formulas for the calculations are well chosen and logically described.

nevertheless, I have several reservations, especially in the area of research presentation and article organization.

- In the Abstract section, I am missing a brief concrete recapitulation of the achieved calculations in specific units, numbers and percentages. A brief introduction to the research methodology used is also missing here. It should be noted that this section serves most readers to orient themselves in the research.

- On line no. 286 there is only the title of subchapter 3.3 without any text.

- Likewise on r. 387

- All tables, figures and graphs lack source identification. Even though it is probably the authors' own work, it is necessary to mention, for example, their own creations.

- The sub-chapter Policy implication shares the presentation of the results together with the Conclusion chapter. On the contrary, she would like to elaborate better on the evaluation of the work overlap and its usability.

- Also in the final section of the Conclusion, I miss a clear presentation of the achieved results - calculations in specific units -

I propose already in the Introduction section to establish the main goal of the research and the research questions to achieve it, and to evaluate their achievement in the same way in the Conclusion section.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

The paper is dealing with a few promising research ideas (the sustainability of real estate market from China, a land-use diversification policy, the ripple effect). Empirical studies on this topics are welcome.

But, I have several concerns about this paper. One of the authors already tackled similar research topics (position 37, 38 and 51 from the references). Moreover, the data for all this papers (including this one) are concentrated on the 2000-2014 period. Even though this paper contains some new approaches, the contribution of the paper is limited (the authors fail in providing strong contributions with respect to previous papers and analysis). 

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

New version of the article is improved on the level the asked for the quality policy of the journal

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Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

The authors partially succeeded to address our concerns. As I explained in my previous review, the paper contains some new approaches, but its contribution is limited (the authors fail in providing strong contributions with respect to previous papers and analysis). The authors succeeded to emphasize these contributions.

However, my second concern, regarding the data, was not tackled by the authors. In the last decade, the real estate market from China had a very dynamic evolution; in this regard, I consider that an extension of the data used in the paper, close to present days (perhaps, until 2021), is needed.

Author Response

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Round 3

Reviewer 3 Report

According to our request, the authors extended the data and re-estimated all processes of econometric estimation.

Minor adjustments are necessary:

- update figure 1 to reflect the new extended period;

- update chapter 4 (Data description), line 343 and 344, to the new period;

- update table 3 to reflect the new extended period. 

Author Response

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