Geomatics and Environmental Engineering, vol. 20, no. 1

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Vol. 20 No. 1 (2026): Geomatics and Environmental Engineering

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Submitted
Mar 31, 2025
Accepted
Sep 23, 2025
Published
Jan 12, 2026
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Google Trends as Indicator of Social Preferences: Causality and Intervention in Poland’s Housing Market

https://doi.org/10.7494/geom.2026.20.1.5
Mirosław Bełej
University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Department of Real Estate and Urban Studies, Olsztyn, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8650-6990

Corresponding Author(s) : Mirosław Bełej

miroslaw.belej@uwm.edu.pl

Geomatics and Environmental Engineering, Vol. 20 No. 1 (2026): Geomatics and Environmental Engineering

Abstract

The article’s primary purpose was to explore the potential of Internet searches for keywords that were related to the polish housing market in order to understand the public’s current preferences or reactions to changes in the market environment. The research used data that was downloaded from Google Trend (RSV) from 2010 through 2024. The Granger causality test was then applied to the relationship between RSV and housing prices, and a Bayesian structural time-series model was applied to examine the impact of the external intervention (COVID-19) on the RSV dynamics. The results indicated that significant changes in the market environment could influence fluctuations in interest in housing, as was evidenced by the changes in the online searches. The article respectfully suggests that a more nuanced understanding of market dynamics might be achieved through a thoughtful integration of classical economic data with non-classical Internet data.

Keywords

Google Trend housing COVID-19 social behavior
Bełej, M. (2026). Google Trends as Indicator of Social Preferences: Causality and Intervention in Poland’s Housing Market. Geomatics and Environmental Engineering, 20(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.7494/geom.2026.20.1.5
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