The Impact of Water Body Restoration on the Sales and Rental Markets in Beijing

Abstract

<h3>Abstract</h3> Black and odorous water bodies (BOWBs) are increasingly common in cities worldwide. This paper evaluates the impact of an urban water bodies restoration program in Beijing, China, based on detailed housing sale and rental transaction data. We implement a hedonic price model with a difference-in-difference and a triple difference approach and find that listing and restoration of a BOWB significantly increase house prices by 2.2-3.9 percent and 2.3-4.9 percent, respectively, while at the same time increase rents by 11.3-13.7 percent and 13.4-16.9 percent, respectively.