# Vacant House Characteristics by Use Area and Their Application to Sustainable Community
## 4 Results of Analysis of Factors Affecting Vacant House
### Analysis of Factors Influencing the Occurrence of Vacant Houses by Use Area  
The results showed differences in the causes of vacant houses in residential and commercial areas (Table 5). The residential environment, population, social, physical environment, and geographic factors were statistically significant for the residential areas' vacant house occurrence, but physical environmental was not significant for the commercial area vacant house occurrence; however, the individual building factor was significant. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Factors**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Variables**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Factor Analysis**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Reliability**} \\ \cline{3-8}  & & **Factor** & **Loadings** & **Communalities** & **E.V.** & **\% var** & **Cronbach’s \(\alpha\)** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Residential environment} & Rate of old houses & 0.934 & 0.905 & & & \\ \cline{2-8}  & Ratio of economically active population & 0.769 & 0.694 & 2.67 & 16.2 & 0.855 \\ \cline{2-8}  & Rate of change in the number of businesses & 0.761 & 0.912 & & & \\ \cline{2-8}  & Official land price & 0.814 & 0.681 & & & \\ \cline{2-8}  & Land price change rate & 0.771 & 0.719 & 1.85 & 31.2 & 0.624 \\ \cline{2-8}  & Ratio of elderly population & 0.519 & 0.508 & & & \\ \hline Physical environment & Undersized parcel & 0.734 & 0.686 & 1.52 & 44.6 & 0.635 \\ \cline{2-8}  & Unstructured parcel & 0.651 & 0.617 & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Individual building} & Building structure & 0.760 & 0.793 & 1.36 & 55.8 & 0.729 \\ \cline{2-8}  & Year of construction & 0.759 & 0.615 & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Geographical} & Poor contact area & 0.824 & 0.777 & 1.14 & 69.6 & 0.838 \\ \cline{2-8}  & Slope & 0.681 & 0.628 & & & \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Geographic} & Cumulative var (\%) = 69.583%; KMO = 0.809; [PERSON]’s rectangularity test significant \(p\)-value = 0.000; x\({}^{2}\) = 2127.764; df = 78. & & & \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{2-8}  & Cumulative var (\%) = 69.583%; KMO = 0.809; [PERSON]’s rectangularity test significant \(p\)-value = 0.000; x\({}^{2}\) = 2127.764; df = 78. & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Affecting factors of vacant houses and reliability analysis. In the residential environment, the ratio of old houses and the ratio of economically active population were significant for vacant house occurrence in both residential and commercial areas. In residential areas, when the ratio of old houses increases, the number of empty houses increases; and when the ratio of economically active population increases, the probability of vacant houses decreases. Conversely, in commercial areas, when the ratio of aged housing increases or the number of businesses increases, the number of vacant houses decreases; and when the ratio of economically active population increases, the probability of vacant houses also increases. In residential areas, if the housing itself becomes obsolete or the area is outdated, people often depart from the area, leaving behind empty houses. In the commercial area, it is possible to decrease the number of vacant houses by converting old houses into shops in line with revitalizing a commercial district; a decrease in the number of businesses can be interpreted as a decline in commercial districts and an increase in vacant houses. Among the socio-demographic variables, the proportion of the aged population was significant in vacant house occurrence. The land price change rate was not significant for either the residential or commercial areas. When the official land price increases only in commercial areas, the probability of vacant houses increases. This suggests that vacant houses (empty shops) occur as tenants move to another area because of increases in rent when the official land price is high. The physical environment factor had a significant effect on vacant houses only in the residential area. No variables were significant in commercial areas.