Data mining in real estate appraisal: a model tree and multivariate adaptive regression spline approach

In this paper we adopt two exploratory modelling techniques: Model Trees and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines. The objective is the building of two sale price prediction models in order to highlight possible market segments not detectable a priori. We show how these novel procedures can help to understand complex patterns and interactions among predictors in real estate appraisal.