Nearby Property Prices Research Articles

The Impact of Unnatural Death Stigmatization on Neighboring Property Prices: Propensity Score Matching and Difference-In-Differences Analysis.

This study primarily investigated the impacts of unnatural in-house deaths on nearby property prices. Propensity score matching was used to assess the homogeneity of experimental and control groups, and the difference-in-differences (DID) method was used for their comparison. Data for real estate transactions in Taipei City from 2012 to 2022 were retrieved from the Ministry of the Interior's real estate actual transaction price registration query system. The DID interaction variable coefficient of 0.066 was significant at the 10% level. A comparison of the experimental and control groups showed a 6.8% property price difference following an unnatural in-house death. This suggests that an unnatural in-house death has a positive impact on property prices nearby. There were four unnatural deaths at the Xining Public Housing from 2003 to 2012 and four at the Jinxing Building from 1984 to 2012. The high incidence of events and the disclosure of information may have depreciated nearby property prices. The study results show that the stigmatization of unnatural in-house deaths reduces nearby property prices. The depreciation of implicit prices reverted and followed a U-shape pattern after several years.

Does a Nearby Murder Affect Housing Prices and Rents? The Case of Sydney

We measure the impact of murders on prices and rents of homes in Sydney. We find that housing prices fall by 3.9% for homes within 0.2 miles of the murder, in the year following the murder, and weaker results in the second year after a murder. We do not find any effects of murders on rents. Higher media coverage and being located closer to the murder (within 0.1 mile) have no additional effect on prices. Taken together, our findings suggest that proximity to a murder affects nearby property prices, particularly in the first year after the incident.

COVID-19 effects on property markets: The pandemic decreases the implicit price of metro accessibility

The metro (or underground railways) has become a backbone in the transit systems of many cities. It has numerous externalities, such as ameliorating traffic congestion and enhancing nearby property prices. Previous studies extensively focused on the relationship between metro accessibility and property prices and obtained various interesting findings and enriched practical implications. However, this relationship in the era of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other epidemic shocks has not been investigated. Based on a unique property transaction dataset (including tens of thousands of transactions stretching from 2018 to 2020) in Chengdu, China, this study develops a battery of hedonic pricing models and difference-in-differences models to decipher the time-varying relationship between metro accessibility and residential property prices. The results show that the implicit price of metro accessibility modestly decreases in COVID-19, which can be explained by the declining role of the metro. In other words, the price gap between proximate and distant properties is narrowed, and the property price gradient is flattened. Specifically, the price elasticity of distance to the metro is − 0.024 before COVID-19, but it turns to − 0.018 during the pandemic. The relative price of properties within 500 m from metro stations to those farther away (500 m − 3 km) decreases by 15.4% during the pandemic. Additionally, COVID-19 does not jeopardize property prices in Chengdu. Furthermore, the decrease in metro access premiums may be short-lived and only persisted for several months or years. The plausibility and robustness of the core findings have been confirmed through alternative treatment groups, alternative model specifications, and placebo tests.

Place-varying impacts of urban rail transit on property prices in Shenzhen, China: Insights for value capture

Urban rail transit (URT) is shown to mitigate numerous contemporary urban problems (e.g., traffic congestion and environmental degradation). To reap such gains, many Chinese cities have actively constructed URT and/or have been on their way of doing so. However, these URT projects often encumber local governments with debt. Value capture schemes can be used to finance URT development. To implement such schemes, we need to understand the relationship between URT and property prices. Despite numerous studies on this topic in other countries, limited empirical studies in urban China have been conducted. Moreover, most previous studies are silent on two issues that are important to value capture, namely: (1) whether transfer stations provide a larger housing price premiums than regular stations, and (2) whether the price effect of URT accessibility is more perceptible in the suburban area than that in the urban. This study contributes to our understanding of these issues by constructing a set of hedonic pricing models using price data from 722 residential complexes in the vicinity of a URT line in Shenzhen, China. Our empirical results show that (1) URT has a positive impact on nearby property prices; (2) the positive impact diminishes quickly as the distance to URT station increases; (3) transfer stations have a larger positive effect on nearby property prices than regular stations; and (4) the price effects of URT accessibility are stronger in the suburban area than in the urban. The first two findings are in line with most previous studies, but the last two findings are seldom reported in existing literature. Practical implications of our findings, such as differential, location-specific value capture schemes, are further discussed.

The external effects of inner‐city shopping centers: Evidence from the Netherlands

AbstractShopping center redevelopment is inevitable to remain attractive for consumers. In this paper, we investigate the external effects of shopping center redevelopment on nearby residential property prices. Using a difference‐in‐difference empirical framework, we find the redevelopment has positive external effects on nearby property prices. We find the price of a property located next to a redeveloped shopping center increases by 1.43% on average just after redevelopment. Our results indicate that these positive external effects wear off rather rapidly across space and over time. This suggests that shopping center redevelopment plays a substantial, but limited, role in combating neighborhood deprivation.

Does the school input quality matter to nearby property prices in Taipei metropolis?

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the spatial effect of school input – “student–teacher ratio” – on property prices in Taipei Metropolis, Taiwan. The falling fertility rate inevitably changes educational system since more less-experienced part-time teachers are hired for the sake of schools’ budget. Hence, in addition to full-time teachers, part-time teachers are included in measuring the student–teacher ratio to see if an increase in part-time teachers, indicating the possible plunge of school quality, may decrease the value of nearby properties.Design/methodology/approachThree types of spatial regressions (including spatial lag, spatial error and SARAR models), which incorporate different kinds of spatial dependencies into hedonic models, are applied to reveal the relationship between two measures of student–teacher ratios and property values.FindingsConventional variables, including housing attributes, demographics and local facilities, demonstrated their consistent and expected influence on property prices. More importantly, the significant “student–teacher ratio 2” (both full-time and part-time teachers) indicated that low-paid, less-experienced and overworked part-time teachers can hardly deliver quality instruction, which inevitably causes harm to school credit and potential buyers’ confidence in valuing neighbouring properties.Practical implicationsFacing the decrease in children and the shrinking budget, the solution to maintain teacher’s quality is to remove the unnecessary administrative chores from full-time teachers and let them do their jobs rather than hiring part-time teachers. Good school input quality should add value to nearby properties, which in return appeals more students to enrol in this school and further elevate schools’ financial burden.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the few studies that consider part-time teachers in capitalising school-input quality into property prices. The increase in part-time teachers, which may lead to an illusion that each student could have higher degree of individual attention from teachers, actually lowers the education quality distributed to all the students. It provides a different perspective in defining the importance of teaching quality to property values in Chinese culture.

Accessibility-based premiums and proximity-induced discounts stemming from bus rapid transit in China: Empirical evidence and policy implications

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is popular worldwide because it provides high-quality transit services at low costs. China is not an exception in this regard, and it tops the world rankings in BRT network expansion rate. Many studies conducted in the West have shown that BRT accessibility has a positive impact on nearby property prices (accessibility effect). Comparatively, few studies have been conducted in urban China. Moreover, there are even fewer empirical studies on the undesirable factors associated with proximity to the BRT corridor, such as noise, air pollution, and unpleasant visual scenes (proximity effect). Based on 16,165 housing samples in Xiamen (China), we estimated a set of, non-spatial and spatial, hedonic pricing models to simultaneously investigate the accessibility and proximity effects of BRT and tested whether or not accessibility-based premiums and proximity-induced discounts coexist in the housing market. Empirical results of this study suggest that: (1) accessibility to BRT positively affects nearby property prices; (2) proximity to the BRT corridor negatively affects property prices; and (3) accessibility to BRT has a stronger positive impact on property prices in peripheral areas than in central areas. Though the first outcome has been well recognized, the other two have rarely been studied in existing literature, thereby representing the potential contributions of this study. Finally, we proposed policy implications from these results.

Strip Clubs, “Secondary Effects” and Residential Property Prices

AbstractMunicipalities regulate sexually oriented businesses (SOBs) through the “secondary effects” doctrine, which justifies limiting First Amendment speech protections inside SOBs. Negative effects of SOBs on nearby neighborhood quality are a frequently cited secondary effect. Little empirical evidence exists that SOBs generate such negative externalities. If SOBs generate negative externalities, then nearby property prices should decrease when a strip club opens. We estimate regression models of housing prices to determine the effect of new clubs on nearby residential property prices in Seattle, exploiting the termination of a 17‐year moratorium on openings and find no evidence that strip clubs have “secondary effects.”

Professional sports facilities, teams and property values: Evidence from NBA team departures

Professional sports teams and facilities can generate negative or positive amenities to be capitalized into nearby property prices. We investigate the effect of the departure of two National Basketball Association teams in Seattle and Charlotte on nearby residential property values. Both arenas continued to operate after the teams left, so these departures represents a natural experiment to identify the net effects of a sports team separately from the effect of a facility and other events that take place in the facility. Results from a repeat sale regression model and hedonic price model indicate that the departure of the teams was associated with excess appreciation of condo prices near Key Arena and single family home prices near the Charlotte Arena, suggesting that the teams generated disamenities in these markets.

The Effect of Natural Space on Nearby Property Prices: Accounting for Perceived Attractiveness

This paper estimates the effect of attractive natural space on Dutch residential property prices. We operationalize attractive natural spaces by combining land use data with unique data on the perceived attractiveness of natural spaces. In our main results, the effect of attractive natural space on property prices falls from 16.0% for properties within 0.5 km, to 1.6% for properties up to 7 km away. Our findings advance existing hedonic studies by verifying that economic benefits of living near natural space extend over a larger distance. This has important implications for public policy regarding investment in natural space near residential areas. (JEL H41, Q51)

NIMBYs for the rich and YIMBYs for the poor: analyzing the property price effects of infill development

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze how nearby property prices are affected by new construction projects in Stockholm. If there is an impact on property prices, the authors endeavor to investigate whether the effects vary among different areas within the municipality, for different groups of inhabitants and for different types of housing (i.e. public versus private housing).Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a difference-in-difference specification in a hedonic model, and the sample consists of more than 90,000 observations over the period 2005-2013.FindingsThe results are robust and indicate that house prices in nearby areas increase following the completion of infill development. The results also indicate that infill development has a positive spillover effect on nearby dwelling prices only in areas with lower incomes, more public housing units and more inhabitants born abroad.Originality/valueIt provides an analysis on how nearby property prices are affected by new construction projects by creating a restricted control area, so as to make the treatment group and the control group more homogeneous. Thus, it mitigates any potential problems with spatial dependency, which can cause biased standard errors.

Does a Nearby Murder Affect Housing Prices and Rents? The Case of Sydney

We measure the impact of murders on prices and rents of homes in Sydney. We find that housing prices fall by 3.9 per cent for homes within 0.2 miles of the murder in the year following the murder, and weaker results in the second year after a murder. We do not find any effects of murders on rents. Higher media coverage and being located closer to the murder (within 0.1 mile) have no additional effect on prices. Taken together, our findings suggest that proximity to a murder affects nearby property prices, particularly in the first year after the incident.

The Impact of Social Housing Developments on Nearby Property Prices: a Nelson Mandela Bay Case Study

AbstractSocial housing projects often face substantial “Not‐in‐my‐backyard” (NIMBY) sentiment and, as a result, are frequently plagued by local opposition from communities who argue that nearby property prices will be affected adversely by these developments. International hedonic pricing studies conducted have, however, produced mixed results with some concluding that social housing developments may in fact lead to an improvement in surrounding property values. There is, however, a paucity of South African evidence. This study considers the validity of the most pervasive NIMBY argument, the claim that social housing developments negatively affect nearby property values, by considering the property prices of 170 single‐family homes in the Walmer neighbourhood, Nelson Mandela Bay, as a function of their proximity to an existing low‐cost housing development. The results of this study indicate that in the case of one Nelson Mandela Bay low‐cost housing development, a negative impact is exerted on the property values of nearby houses.

The impact of mining and smelting activities on property values: a study of Mount Isa city, Queensland, Australia

Much publicity has been given to the problem of high levels of environmental contaminants, most notably high blood lead concentration levels among children in the city of Mount Isa because of mining and smelting activities. The health impacts from mining‐related pollutants are now well documented. This includes published research being discussed in an editorial of the Medical Journal of Australia (see Munksgaard et al. 2010). On the other hand, negative impacts on property prices, although mentioned, have not been examined to date. This study rectifies this research gap. This study uses a hedonic property price approach to examine the impact of mining‐ and smelting‐related pollution on nearby property prices. The hypothesis is that those properties closer to the lead and copper smelters have lower property (house) prices than those farther away. The results of the study show that the marginal willingness to pay to be farther from the pollution source is AUS $13 947 per kilometre within the 4 km radius selected. The study has several policy implications, which are discussed briefly. We used ordinary least squares, geographically weighted regression, spatial error and spatial autoregressive or spatial lag models for this analysis.

Determining the Impact of a Low-Cost Housing Development on Nearby Property Prices Using Discrete Choice Analysis

This paper presents an application of the conditional logit model to a small, Nelson Mandela Bay neighbourhood housing data set, with the objective of determining the impact of proximity to a low-cost housing development on nearby property prices. The results of this pilot study show that the average household in the neighbourhood of Walmer is willing to pay between R27 262 and R195 564 to be located 86m further away from an existing low–cost housing development.

New Estimates of the Demand for Urban Green Space: Implications for Valuing the Environmental Benefits of Boston’s Big Dig Project

ABSTRACT:Parks and open spaces enhance the quality of life in urban areas. Over the last 15 years, the city of Boston has sponsored the most expensive urban infrastructure project in history. This project relocates an elevated highway underground and creates urban parks, increasing the city’s green space. The study estimates the economic benefits of proximity to parks in Boston, Massachusetts, based on hedonic pricing methods. Using Boston’s land use and assessed property price data, it is determined that proximity to urban open space has positive impacts on property values, while proximity to highways has negative impacts on property prices. Based on this observation, it is expected that the spatial alteration will cause a significant increase in nearby property prices.