Nearby Properties Research Articles

The Impact of Parks on Property Values: A Review of the Empirical Evidence

The real estate market consistently demonstrates that many people are willing to pay a larger amount for a property located close to a park than for a house that does not offer this amenity. The higher value of these residences means that their owners pay higher property taxes. In many instances, if the incremental amount of taxes paid by each property which is attributable to the presence of a nearby park is aggregated, it is sufficient to pay the annual debt charges required to retire the bonds used to acquire and develop the park. This process of capitalization of park land into the value of nearby properties is termed the “proximate principle.”Results of approximately 30 studies which have empirically investigated the extent and legitimacy of the proximate principle are reported, starting with Frederick Law Olmsted's study of the impact of New York's Central Park. Only five studies were not supportive of the proximate principle and analysis of them suggested these atypical results may be attributable to methodological deficiencies.As a point of departure, the studies' results suggest that a positive impact of 20% on property values abutting or fronting a passive park area is a reasonable starting point. If it is a heavily used park catering to large numbers of active recreation users, then the proximate value increment may be minimal on abutting properties, but may reach 10% on properties two or three blocks away.

Improving Land Compensation Procedures via Gis and Hedonic Pricing

One of the results of new road construction is often a reduction in the price of nearby properties. In the United Kingdom property owners can be compensated for this loss through the Land Compensation Act. The appropriate level of compensation is currently determined by valuers and is mainly based upon their expertise and skill. This study aims to determine what the correct level of compensation should be. It has been specifically designed to fulfil the requirements of current legislation and can be integrated into existing compensation procedures. This was achieved through a hedonic pricing study that relates current property prices to a wide range of factors. These variables include the structure, neighbourhood, accessibility, and environment of the property, in addition to the impact of nearby roads. These were all created through GIS and large-scale digital data. The study, which is based on over 3500 property sales in Glasgow, Scotland, suggests that property prices were depressed by 0.202% for each decibel increase in road noise. This result has enabled a more streamlined compensation procedure to be developed and demonstrates that compensation claims can be estimated at the road-development stage. This would allow any compensation claims to be assessed prior to road construction and inform the design of noise-reduction measures.

Confronting Information Asymmetries: Evidence from Real Estate Markets

This paper studies the role of asymmetric information in commercial real estate markets in the U.S. and Canada. We propose a novel and exogenous measure of information based on the quality of property tax assessments in different regions and time periods. Employing direct and indirect information variables, we find strong evidence that information considerations are significant in real estate. We show that market participants resolve information asymmetries by purchasing nearby properties and by avoiding trades with informed professional brokers. There is some indication that purchasers also make use of informed intermediaries. The evidence that the choice of financing is used to address information concerns is mixed and fairly weak.

Transitory Effects of Disamenities on Residential Housing Values: The Case of Public and Senior Housing

Executive Summary. This article investigates the effect of low-income and senior housing on the value of nearby residential properties. It is unique in that, in addition to testing for the effect on establishment, it also tests for the duration of the impact. Thirteen projects, including three public senior housing facilities (two large and one moderate in size) are included in the analysis. We investigate the extent and the longevity of the effect of the projects on a sample of 6,321 residential properties. We find that while public housing in general and senior housing in particular has an initial negative impact on nearby property values the effect is neither substantial nor long lasting.

Aerial survey methodology and the cost of control for feral goats in Western Queensland

Feral goats (Capra hircus) were shot from a helicopter on four sites in central-western Queensland. These sites centred on Idalia National Park (660 km2) and three nearby properties: Lissoy (360 km2), Mt Calder (260 km2) and Ravensbourne (320 km2), the order reflecting increasing goat density. On Idalia, 134 goats were shot in 8 h of flying time. On Lissoy, 28 goats were shot in 3 h, 1038 goats were shot on Mt Calder in 15 h, while 2307 goats were shot on Ravensbourne in 21 h. The reduction was monitored by aerial surveys using fixed-wing aircraft. No goats were recorded on either Idalia or Lissoy immediately following shooting and substantial reductions in goat numbers were achieved on Mt Calder (75%) and Ravensbourne (49%). Surveys conducted six months after this reduction indicated population increases on all sites following shooting. This was particularly marked on Ravensbourne, where goat numbers had increased by 31% despite further substantial removals by commercial mustering. These population increases were largely the result of immigration. The cooperation of landowners over a large area is therefore essential for effective control of goats. The per capita cost of shooting goats from a helicopter was essentially constant down to a threshold density of <1 goat km-2 , below which the cost increased substantially. The accuracy of fixed-wing aerial surveys was improved by using double-counting and these corrected estimates compared favourably with index–manipulation–index estimates. Estimates of densities <1 goat km-2 were imprecise and at these densities goats were difficult to detect. The extent of vegetation cover did not affect the sightability of goats, whereas group size was positively correlated with the sightability of goats. To estimate true density, correction factors of 1–2 were applied to goat group sizes using survey parameters of 100 m strip width, a survey height of 76 m and a speed of 187 km h-1.

Landfill NIMBY and Systems Engineering: A Paradigm for Urban Planning

AbstractA solid waste management crisis exists in many parts of the US as a result of the inability to site new landfills to replace the consumed capacity of existing landfills. Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills can, and usually do, have a significant adverse impact on the individuals who own property in, reside in, or otherwise use, areas near the landfill. This leads those who stand to be adversely affected by a landfill to take a justifiable “NIMBY” (Not in My Back Yard) position against it. In the past and even today the approach that is used for siting landfills is to select one or more specifically rural areas as candidate sites and then through a contrived process, force one or more of those sites on those who own or use nearby properties. If those in the potential sphere of influence of the landfill, which is often several miles from its location, are sufficiently politically powerful or have sufficient financial resources to actively oppose the siting of the landfill in their region, they can usually be successful in stopping the landfill from being sited in their area.Some jurisdictions purport to involve the public in the site‐selection process by appointing a “citizens advisory committee” (CAC). The CAC is then “allowed” to select and rank the parameters of concern with respect to the landfill. Based on an arbitrarily developed numeric scoring system, various potential candidate sites are ranked and those with the highest ranking are selected as the “best available sites. ” While the site‐selection process and the design of the landfill should be coordinated and concurrent activities, they are typically pursued sequentially which contributes to the unreliability of the process. While this process appears superficially to have a technical aura about it, and public participation components in it, it is highly arbitrary and frequently capricious in its implementation. Rarely does this process lead to “the best available site” that would enable the development of a particular landfill at the particular location without a significant adverse impact on the current owners and users of nearby lands, future generations who may own or use those lands, and those who would use groundwaters hydraulically connected to the area at some time in the future.There is need to take a significantly different approach to landfill siting than is being used today. Systems engineering provides a potential methodology for rigorous incorporation of the various factors that need to be considered in developing solid waste management capacity for a region. This paper reviews the issues of site selection for MSW management, legitimate NIMBY concerns, and how systems engineering could be used to more appropriately select a site/method for MSW management for a region.

An analysis of the variation in wool production between commercial properties from a survey of a wheat-sheep shire in New South Wales

A survey of Merino breeding properties in the Weddin Shire of New South Wales was used to relate the variation in wool production among properties to physical and management factors. Clean wool production averaged 3.15 kg per sheep and showed little variation between the eastern, central and western portions of the shire. However, clean wool production per hectare was greatest in the eastern portion where rainfall, pasture improvement and stocking rate were highest. Overall, ewes produced 88% as much wool as the wethers but variation was great, with 23% of the properties surveyed producing more wool per sheep from their ewes. The difference in productivity for properties in the highest and lowest quartiles was 71% when ranked on clean wool production per sheep. The difference was 184% when ranked on clean wool production per hectare, and even though stocking rate more than doubled, individual productivity increased. Similar differences in quartile production were observed in each portion of the shire. Regression analysis was used to test the importance of 9 physical and 10 management factors as determinants of the variation in clean wool production between properties. Four factors (stocking rate, managerial assessment, sheep strain/bloodline and location within shire) accounted for 74% of the variance in wool production per hectare, but after adjusting for the time of shearing, only 16% of the variance in wool production per sheep was explained. In a more specific analysis of wool production of the properties' ewe flock, 42% of the variance was accounted for by the source of genetic material, stocking rate, pasture improvement, time of lambing, the proportion of Merino ewes and an assessment of managerial ability. Research workers considering on-farm experimentation in wool production should be aware that large productivity differences can occur between nearby properties. Therefore, treatments should be allocated to properties based on known wool production. Further, results obtained from either the ewe, wether or hogget flocks may have application to only that class of sheep because of the large differences in commercial management imposed on them.

PERCEIVED WATER QUALITY AND THE VALUE OF SEASONAL HOMES1

ABSTRACT: The impact of degraded water quality on the value of seasonal homes adjacent to St. Albans Bay on Lake Champaign in northern Vermont is estimated using hedonic price functions. The Value of properties located adjacent to the bay are depressed by about 20 percent, or $4,500 on average, compared with similar nearby properties on the larger but cleaner lake. Water quality degradation resulted in decressed property values of approximately two million dollars in the area surrounding the Bay.

NOISE FROM SHEET-PILING OPERATIONS - M67 DENTON RELIEF ROAD.

For most of its length of M67 Denton relief road is in cutting. To enable retaining walls and bridge abutments to be constructed extensive use was made of temporary sheet pile walls to retain the surrounding ground. Denton is a densely populated area and much of the piling had to be undertaken close to occupied buildings. Initially a noise-reduced drop hammer was used to install the sheets but because of the magnitude of the vibrations induced in nearby properties, and the difficulty of achieving the required pile penetration, driving was also undertaken using a diesel hammer. The latter method generated much higher at-source sound levels than the drop hammer and attempts were made to prevent noise nuisance by screening the diesel hammer. Throughout this work sound levels and ground vibration levels were continuously monitored and these measurements form the basis of this paper. (Author/TRRL)

Design and Construction of Impervious Membranes for Excavated Reservoirs

age. Great amounts of money are continually being spent by water works organizations both to stop this leakage and to pay damages resulting from it. The East Bay Municipal Utility Dist. has experienced the same leakage problems that face many other water works operators, and has found it necessary to abandon several small reservoirs, because leakage from them was causing damage. Many years ago, small water companies constructed these reservoirs in undeveloped areas. Nearby properties were subsequently developed and incurred serious damage. As property development progressed, expensive reconditioning and repairs to several larger and more costly reservoirs were necessary because of leakage damage. The district's insurance carriers have several