This paper investigates how proximity to workplaces in industries highly exposed to generative AI affects rent growth in multi-family built-to-rent (BTR) properties in New York City following the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022.
It constructs a composite generative AI exposure score for each BTR property by combining SafeGraph geocoded Points of Interest with Advan foot traffic data, reflecting the average AI exposure of workplaces located within a 30-minute commuting radius, based on 2019 baseline travel patterns. Properties above the citywide median exposure are defined as treated.
Using a difference-in-differences (DID) empirical strategy, it estimates the differential impact on rent growth, capturing market responses to AI-induced labour demand shocks.
The findings suggest that BTR properties near high gen-AI exposure workplaces experienced a decline in rental premiums post-ChatGPT, particularly for smaller units such as studios and one-bedrooms. These effects are especially evident in areas with a high concentration of firms embracing flexible or hybrid WFH policies.
To unpack the underlying supply- and demand-side mechanisms, the research incorporates WageScape job posting data to trace labour displacement effects, and RentHub rental listings to capture behavioural shifts in housing preferences. These results offer practical insights for institutional investors and policymakers navigating AI’s evolving impact on urban rental markets.
Biography
Dr Yi Wu is a Lecturer in Real Estate Economics and UG Programme Director at Henley Business School, University of Reading. She specialises in housing economics and corporate finance.
She was appointed the chair of the Society of Property Researchers (SPR) and chair of RED Foundation Data Research & Academia Steering Group in 2023, and co-chair of Global Women in Society in 2022.
Dr Wu joined Henley Business School from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass Business School). She spent time as a visiting scholar at the University of San Diego and the National University of Singapore. Her publications appear in Journal of Corporate Finance, Regional Studies, Real Estate Economics, Applied Economics and in the media, such as The Conversation.
She has led many research funding projects as principal investigator, including UKRI Accelerated Knowledge Transfer to Innovate (AKT2I) grant, UoR Prosperity and Resilience Pump-priming grant and a European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) research grant. She serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management.
Currently, she is working on research projects about location preferences, migration and media effects using big data and machine learning.