Transforming the economic value of hillside housing—A case study of Seoul, South Korea

Abstract

This study examines transforming real estate value of urban hillside for residential developments, drawing on two-fold panel analyses: a random-effect panel modeling and a growth-curve panel modeling, in Seoul, South Korea from 1990 to 2015. The results reveal the reduced gap between the land values in hillside and low-lying residential sites as moving toward 2015, evidenced by the rapidly growing rate of increase of land value in the former, whereby the parabolic curvature of the land value trajectory increased from 0.00152 to 0.00156, compared to that of the latter, whereby the equivalent to that decreased from 0.00224 to 0.00214. The results also suggest that the negative effect of higher elevation has decreased to approximately zero (−0.625% per 10-m increment) and projected to turn positive, in hillside residential sites, while the equivalent to that in the low-lying residential sites has been exacerbated (−3.786% per 10-m increment). By helping the understanding of the past, current and future hillside housing development—how the hillside sites have been and will be reevaluated by passage of time, this study will provide practical lessons in planning urban housing and natural amenity resources.