Abstract

The visibility value of the natural landscape is a difficult concept to quantify. Using GIS techniques we create variables for measuring the visibility value of coasts and natural open areas in a spatial hedonic model of house prices. Data come from repeated house sales for the city of Haifa (Israel). As visibility of amenities often interacts with other variables such as location, we suggest approaches for dealing with this identification problem. We exploit the multi-level structure of the data to estimate spatial panel models with multi-level random effects for identifying the visibility value of natural landscapes. The estimated results show first, that visibility of coast and natural open space adds to the value of house prices regardless of their location. Second, the effect of proximity of natural landscapes on house prices is determined by the trade-off between positive and negative externalities generated by these amenities. Third, we find that viewshed effects are sensitive to different ranges of visibility.

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call