Semiparametric M-quantile regression with measurement error in spatial covariates: an application to housing price modelling

Spatial data are becoming increasingly accessible to urban scientists, but these data are often prone to measurement error. Motivated by the analysis of the Milan (Italy) apartment market heterogeneity, we propose a semiparametric approach to adjust for the presence of measurement error in the covariates when estimating M-quantile regression. The M-quantile approach helps explain the heterogeneity across individual units, preserving robustness and efficiency in the estimates. The model’s parameters are estimated within a penalised likelihood framework and an analytical expression is proposed to estimate standard errors. Asymptotic properties of estimates are also provided.