Short answer: yes, but not everywhere and not always
The question 'do lucky house numbers raise the price' has been answered with real transaction data in several markets. The short answer: yes, in markets with enough buyers who believe in the lucky or unlucky meaning of numbers. The gap is not vague sentiment but is measured in percentages, and it varies by area, by market phase, and by which number is considered lucky or unlucky.
Kind of knowledge: UnprovenNot enough evidence. Someone has claimed it, but no source or study is strong enough to confirm it. The five labelsResearch by Nicole M. Fortin, Andrew J. Hill and Jane Huang, published in Economic Inquiry in 2014, examined the Vancouver housing market and found that homes with numbers ending in 4 sold about 2.2% below the usual price, while homes ending in 8 sold about 2.5% above. Notably, the effect was clearest in areas with many residents of Chinese origin.
Why does a house number sit inside the price? The hedonic price mechanism
Kind of knowledge: UnprovenNot enough evidence. Someone has claimed it, but no source or study is strong enough to confirm it. The five labelsReal estate economics has a tool called the hedonic price model, first set out by Sherwin Rosen in 1974. The core idea: a house is not a single good but a bundle of attributes, each with a hidden price. Location, floor area, number of bedrooms, orientation, floor, and even the house number are attributes in that bundle. When buyers pay more for an attribute, that gap reflects the value they place on it.
In other words, the number itself creates no physical value. But when a group of buyers large enough attaches meaning to a number, that meaning enters demand, and demand pushes the price. This is the key point: the effect is real in the market, but its source is collective belief, not a physical attribute of the house.
Auckland and Singapore: how are lucky numbers priced in?
Kind of knowledge: UnprovenNot enough evidence. Someone has claimed it, but no source or study is strong enough to confirm it. The five labelsSteven C. Bourassa and Vincent S. Peng, published in the International Real Estate Review in 1999, studied the influence of feng shui on house prices in New Zealand. The results showed that in areas with many residents of Chinese origin, houses with numbers considered lucky sold for higher prices.
In Singapore, Jia He and colleagues, published in Management Science in 2020, studied superstition, conspicuous spending and the housing market. The research found that addresses considered lucky sold for more, and that transactions fell on days considered unlucky in the lunar calendar.
These two results agree on one point: it is not the number itself that creates value, but the community of buyers in that area. The same number can carry completely different meanings in two cultures. In Chinese, 4 sounds close to the word for death, so many people of Chinese origin consider it unlucky. The number 8 sounds close to the word for prosperity, so it is considered lucky. In Russia, 7 is the lucky number and 13 the unlucky one.
Hong Kong: floor 8 is only dearer when the market is hot
Kind of knowledge: UnprovenNot enough evidence. Someone has claimed it, but no source or study is strong enough to confirm it. The five labelsK. Chau, V.S.M. Ma and D.C.W. Ho, published in the Journal of Real Estate Literature in 2001, studied the price of luck in the Hong Kong apartment market. They found that apartments on floors containing the number 8 sold for higher prices during the period when the property market was rising.
This result suggests a notable psychological mechanism: belief in lucky numbers carries different weight depending on the state of the market. When the market is hot, buyers are willing to pay more for factors they think may bring good fortune or at least make resale easier. When the market cools, that gap shrinks and sometimes disappears. In other words, the 'price of belief' is not fixed but stretches with overall supply and demand.
Russia: unlucky numbers bite, lucky numbers do not
Elena B. Pokryshevskaya and Evgeny A. Antipov, published in Economics Bulletin in 2015, studied numerical superstition in the apartment market in Saint Petersburg. They compared the share of apartments sold on floor 7 with floors 6 and 8, and floor 13 with floors 12 and 14. Because floors within the same building contain exactly the same apartments, this comparison isolates the effect of the number. Kind of knowledge: DocumentedHistorical record. Backed by a document, a date and a source; the note number beside it points to that source. The five labelsThe result: floor 13 had a clear negative effect on demand for new apartments, but floor 7 showed no positive advantage1.
This is an interesting finding because it shows asymmetry. Fear of an unlucky number may be stronger than the appeal of a lucky one. Buyers avoid floor 13 more clearly than they chase floor 7. Kind of knowledge: DocumentedHistorical record. Backed by a document, a date and a source; the note number beside it points to that source. The five labelsThe authors also note that in Russia, floor 13 is not skipped in numbering as in some Western countries, so they had the conditions to observe this effect cleanly1.
The method of this study is also notable in that it used actual sales data rather than survey data or listing prices. That means the figures reflect real purchasing behaviour, not what people say in a questionnaire.
Summary table of the studies
| Study | Market, data year | Data scope | Main result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fortin, Hill and Huang (2014) | Vancouver, Canada | Housing transactions, split by area of Chinese-origin residents | Numbers ending in 4 about 2.2% cheaper, ending in 8 about 2.5% dearer, clearest in areas with many Chinese-origin residents |
| Bourassa and Peng (1999) | Auckland, New Zealand | Housing in areas with many Chinese-origin residents | Lucky house numbers were reflected in prices |
| He and colleagues (2020) | Singapore | Housing transactions | Lucky addresses sold for more, transactions fell on unlucky lunar-calendar days |
| Chau, Ma and Ho (2001) | Hong Kong | Apartment market | Floors containing the number 8 sold for more when the market was hot |
| Pokryshevskaya and Antipov (2015) | Saint Petersburg, Russia | New apartments, comparing floor 7 with 6 and 8, floor 13 with 12 and 14 | Floor 13 sold clearly worse, floor 7 showed no advantage |
Why might even non-believers end up paying?
A good question is: if I do not believe 8 is lucky, why would I pay more for it? The answer lies in resale. If a substantial share of future buyers believe 8 is lucky, then a house numbered 8 has a wider pool of buyers and therefore higher liquidity. A non-believing buyer still has an economic reason to pay more, because they are buying access to that pool of buyers when they want to sell.
This mechanism is similar to what happens with other attributes of a house. A low-floor apartment may not be good for the current buyer's health, but if the market favours low floors for convenience, the price stays high. What buyers pay for is not only the use value to themselves but also the resale value on the market.
Kind of knowledge: Folk beliefFolk belief. What people believe, avoid or pass on by word of mouth, recorded as a belief, not as a checked fact. The five labelsIn Vietnamese folk belief, many people hold that 8 and 6 are lucky numbers and 4 is unlucky, and when buying a house they often weigh both the house number and the floor number. This belief is not unique to Vietnamese people but appears in many places influenced by Chinese culture.
Limits of the evidence: what has not been proven
To date, no study on the effect of house numbers or floor numbers on property prices in Vietnam has been published in international economics journals. The results above come from Vancouver, Auckland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Saint Petersburg. One cannot infer that the gaps in Vietnam will match those figures, because the gap depends on the share of believers in the specific market, on supply and demand, and on the market phase.
Kind of knowledge: UnprovenNot enough evidence. Someone has claimed it, but no source or study is strong enough to confirm it. The five labelsIt should also be stated clearly: these studies measure market prices, not fortune. They show that people pay more for the number 8, not that the number 8 brings anything better to the owner. Measuring the price of belief does not mean the belief is causally correct.
Kind of knowledge: School: traditional feng shuiSchool's interpretation. How one school or one book reads it; other schools may read it differently. The five labelsFrom the perspective of traditional feng shui, numbers and directions carry their own meanings, and choosing a house number or floor number that suits one's destiny is considered part of settling down. However, this is the understanding of a belief system, not a conclusion of experimental science. The studies above do not test whether feng shui is right or wrong; they only measure how buyers behave.
What should home buyers ask?
If you are considering buying a house and are unsure about the house number or floor number, a few practical questions can help you decide better.
First, does the area have many buyers who care about lucky numbers? If so, a lucky house number may be a liquidity advantage when you resell, and an unlucky one a disadvantage. If few people in the area care, the gap may be negligible.
Second, is the price gap the seller is asking for a lucky number proportionate to the real liquidity advantage? If the seller asks 5% more for the number 8 but research in a similar market shows only a 2-3% gap, the extra ask may be the seller's expectation rather than market value.
Third, do you actually believe? If you believe and a lucky number makes you feel more at ease living there, that is a valid reason to pay more. If you do not believe, you may still consider paying more for liquidity reasons, but you should know clearly that it is an economic reason, not a spiritual one.
Conclusion: the price of belief is real, but it does not prove the belief true
Kind of knowledge: UnprovenNot enough evidence. Someone has claimed it, but no source or study is strong enough to confirm it. The five labelsStudies in Vancouver, Auckland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Saint Petersburg all show one consistent thing: when enough buyers believe in the lucky or unlucky meaning of numbers, that belief enters the price. 'Lucky' house and floor numbers can sell higher, numbers seen as unlucky can sell lower. The gap is measured in percentages, not in vague feeling.
But two things must be distinguished. One is the price of belief in the market, measurable through transaction data. The other is the real value of the number to the fortune of the occupant, which these studies do not measure and cannot measure with their methods. The effect is real, but it arises from collective belief, not from the number itself. For home buyers, understanding this mechanism helps make wiser decisions, whether they believe or not.
