Haunted houses have a chilling effect on the property market

HAUNTED HOUSES are not for the faint of heart. Deceased former tenants—normally those who have suffered violent, untimely deaths—are said to remain in residence. Living occupants complain of creaking doors and floorboards, shifting furniture, knocking, footsteps and voices. Ghostly apparitions can terrorise children; pets flee eerie spectres.

Sceptics might write such phenomena off as paranoia, but haunted houses do spook the property market. That ghosts depress prices, especially in some Asian cities such as Hong Kong, has long been recognised. But a recent working paper by Utpal Bhattacharya and Kasper...