Single-family Properties Research Articles

Economic benefits of urban streetscapes: Analyzing the interrelationships between visual street environments and single-family property values in Seoul, Korea

Policymakers and planners often face questions about whether the creation of walkable environments can positively affect nearby housing prices. In response to this situation, numerous previous studies have examined the relationships between neighborhood-scale walkable environments and neighboring property values. However, it remains unknown if micro-scale visual streetscapes significantly affect nearby housing prices. This study builds upon prior literature by examining the economic effects of both neighborhood and streetscape walkability on single-family housing prices in Seoul, Korea. We use 14,686 housing sales transaction data between 2017 and 2019. In addition, this study utilizes a Deeplab V3+ deep learning model using 233,106 Google Street View (GSV) panoramic images to empirically identify micro-scale streetscapes. Based on such data, we employ a hedonic price model to examine the interrelationships between both macro- and micro-scale walkable environments and single-family housing prices. Our findings show that paved sidewalks on streets are associated with higher housing prices in disadvantaged neighborhoods, while street greenery and a sense of enclosure are positively correlated in advantaged areas. In particular, the sense of enclosure presents diminishing marginal effects. Our findings can help policymakers and planners establish detailed design strategies and guidelines for creating walkable environments that can maximize these economic benefits.

How Work from Home Changes Housing Demand: Evidence from Online Search

We quantify the impact of work from home (WFH) on housing demand by leveraging a unique dataset of online housing sales advertisements in Italy and considering intensity in the adoption of WFH. By exploiting both the time series and the geographical variation in WFH adoption after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we estimate that intensive WFH is the main driver of a significant recomposition of housing demand toward larger, single-family properties with outdoor spaces. This suggests that hybrid working arrangements involving a sizable amount of home-office work may have long-lasting consequences on housing markets and the organization of cities.

When and Where Do Home Values Increase in Response to Planned Light Rail Construction?

This paper examines the effects of an investment in light rail transit on single-family property values in Montgomery County, Maryland, with a focus on when and where such capitalization takes place and with intent to inform efforts to promote equitable transit-oriented development. We employ both hedonic price and repeat-sales estimation techniques to assure the results are robust. The findings indicate that housing prices, after the light rail transit went into the engineering phase, rose with proximity to anticipated new rail stations but not with proximity to existing metro stations. For planners and policymakers and advocates in Montgomery County, the results provide critical information about where and when value capture and anti-displacement policies are most needed and potentially effective.

Valuing urban trees: A hedonic investigation into tree canopy influence on property values across environmental and social contexts in Baltimore, Maryland

Urban tree canopy yields numerous environmental and social benefits. This study investigates whether the marginal contribution of tree canopy cover to home values depends on certain characteristics of a property and its location. We address this using a hedonic property analysis with data from Baltimore, Maryland. Both Ordinary Least Square and Spatial Lag models were conducted, all including interaction terms between tree canopy cover and various site factors. Our results indicated that, on average, the amount of tree canopy in the 100–400 zone around a single-family property is positively associated with home price. We also find that the marginal impact of canopy on property price increases for properties that are larger in lot size and closer to downtown Baltimore. Model results were mixed in terms of the interactive effects of crime and proximity to major roadway with tree canopy. We suggest that the benefits that tree canopy provides in the form of added privacy, reduced urban heat, noise and pollution may influence these price increases. These findings may signal concerns about the potential for urban greening to contribute to gentrification. In a competitive housing market, those with the capacity to afford to pay more for urban tree canopy and the benefits it provides such as a cooler downtown environment, privacy on larger lots, or reduced noise and pollution from a major roadway may price out those who are unable to pay this urban tree canopy premium. There is, therefore, the potential for unequal increases in home equity across neighborhoods following tree planting and urban greening in Baltimore.

Impacts of bus rapid transit (BRT) on residential property values: A comparative analysis of 11 US BRT systems

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is growing in popularity as a lower-cost alternative to light rail transit. Although the impacts of rail transportation on residential property values is well-explored, the impact of BRT on property values remains less well-understood, particularly in the United States where BRT infrastructure is more heterogeneous than the rest of the world. This paper addresses this gap by evaluating and comparing the before-and-after effect of 11 BRT systems on nearby property values in ten metropolitan areas across the United States. We used a quasi-experimental approach and hedonic spatial error models with propensity score matching to measure change in residential property transaction prices within walking distance of a BRT station. Overall model results show a mix of appreciation, depreciation, and no change in residential properties value across different BRT systems. Multi-family properties nearby BRTs with on-street dedicated lanes generally experienced the most appreciation while single-family properties around off-street busway systems experienced depreciation. BRT-lite systems without dedicated lanes associate with property appreciation in relatively dense and congested metropolitan areas with developed transit networks and high ridership. Our model results emphasize the ability of BRT to improve transit accessibility in these regions and to provide an attractive alternative to driving. Furthermore, the lack of property appreciation around busways indicates these systems may not provide nearby residents with an amenity bonus greater than its nuisance effects. Our study informs stakeholders and public officials about the broad effects of BRT on land values and invites researchers to continue investigating the role of walkability, nuisance effects, and individual BRT amenities on residential property values.

Building to conserve: Quantifying the outdoor water savings of residential redevelopment in Denver, Colorado

Outdoor water use represents up to half of total urban water demand in many semi-arid and arid cities and presents a climate adaptation challenge in urban centers. As indoor efficiency and reuse improves, outdoor use amounts to an increasingly large portion of consumptive urban water demand. Infill development, or the redevelopment of single-family properties to more dense multi-family and mixed-use developments, is a growing trend in urban planning; however, the influences of infill on outdoor water demand are poorly understood. The current work utilizes a remote sensing-based methodology to calculate parcel-scale irrigation rates in Denver, Colorado and applies a novel resampling methodology to model the impacts of redevelopment on outdoor water use. Results for 2018 showed irrigation rates varied by almost 250 mm between park and commercial land uses, and mean single-family irrigation rates of 224 mm exceeded multi-family rates by 70 mm. In the Berkeley neighborhood, modeled redevelopment of 1,347 single-family parcels (39.5%) resulted in a 102,000 m3 (83 acre-feet, or 30.2%) reduction in outdoor use. Citywide analyses indicate reductions of 141,000 m3 (114 acre-feet, or 0.76%) of residential outdoor use per one percent increase in redeveloped single-family parcels. These savings are equivalent to new annual supply for 181 four-person households and may provide significant contributions towards climate adaptation. Results highlight the importance of the continued integration of land use and water supply for demand management within the urban planning process.

SMART GROWTH AND THE CHALLENGE OF NIMBY: MULTIFAMILY DWELLINGS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE SELLING PRICES IN TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA, USA

Citizens protest development when they consider it undesirable. One type of development commonly perceived as undesirable by single-family home owners is proximate multifamily housing, often considered a cause of property devaluation. This study assesses multifamily housing, by typology, and its monetary association with proximate single-family housing prices. The research design is a cross-sectional study using multivariate regression. The unit of analysis is the detached single-family dwelling. The study population is a sample taken from all arms-length owner-occupied, primary residence, detached single-family property transactions recorded in Tallahassee-Leon County, Florida, USA, during 2008. The key findings show no statistically significant negative associations between multifamily housing and single-family property selling prices in the sample; in fact, the two were positively correlated. These findings address single-family homeowner concerns about proximate multifamily housing and should bolster the political feasibility of Smart Growth policy, which recommends denser urban infill.

Property valuation based on Choquet integral

The property valuation is classically challenged by the weighting of attributes and observed prices of properties. Modern approaches, using statistical potential, optimization, and rich data increased expectations for better results. Although the practitioners recognize that, they prefer accessible estimations with the convenience of interpreting them like in the sales comparison adjustment-grid. The weighting process is thus either weak in practice or complex in modeling culture. The challenge mainly originates from the incoherencies, sometimes significant, between the negotiated prices and the utility reward (contribution) of attributes. Economic agents take decisions under uncertainty, essentially influenced by their subjective expectations, capacity of evaluation and ability of using reliable information. Therefore, existing approaches suffer from properly addressing these issues of valuation. In this paper, we are motivated to improve these issues based on Choquet integral (CI) and fuzzy logic, well-known in Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. In comparison to the available classic (Adjustment-grid) and statistical approaches (like OLS regressions), the method we develop objectively and accurately weights the contribution of property attributes and the adjusted prices in market value estimations. Based on empirical experiments in case-by-case and mass valuation of single-family properties in Montreal (Canada), the results are encouraging and support its reliability.

Examining the Impact of Short-Term Rentals on Housing Prices in Washington, DC: Implications for Housing Policy and Equity

ABSTRACTAs on-demand short-term rentals (STRs) grow popular with the rise of sharing platforms like Airbnb, regulations for the STR market have become the center of a debate among policymakers, housing interest groups, the hotel and lodging industry, and STR platforms. Washington, DC, the nation’s capital and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, is on the front lines of legalizing and regulating the STR business. With the heated policy debate over whether STRs disrupt the rental housing market in DC, a concrete discussion about what STRs impose on the owner housing market is left out. Using web-scraped data from Airbnb and property-level data from the city, I investigated the net impact of STRs on single-family property prices through a series of hedonic analyses. The results suggest that having Airbnb establishments in the neighborhood can significantly inflate property prices. Because of the uneven spatial market penetration of STRs, such price impact could inequitably affect low-income homebuyers and add another hurdle to resolving the housing affordability issue faced by policymakers in Washington, DC.

Análisis de precios hedónicos de viviendas

This paper presents a study about the housing pricing using hedonic modelling. The pricing models have several uses, such as determinate property taxes or to mortgage decision analysis. In the case of taxation, models must be broader, aiming at the evaluation of a set of housing units. It makes the work seem more complex. This issue is a barrier to widespread statistical inference in tax assessment, especially in small and medium-sized municipalities, which have fewer human resources. This paper presents a study in two medium-sized Brazilian cities, demonstrating the process of analysis and developing models to single-family properties. Data were collected on real estate agents and valuation reports. Statistical analysis allows finding the equations that best fitted observed data. Significance tests of variables and models were performed and indicated that the models have good explanation of prices. It can be concluded that these models could be used in evaluation with tax purposes

A geospatial analysis between the sale prices of single-family properties and the presence of registered sex offenders in Jefferson County, Kentucky

This study explores whether a relationship exists between sale prices and the presence of registered sex offenders in Jefferson County, Kentucky after accounting for observed and unobserved neighbourhood characteristics in accompaniment with property characteristics. The sale prices of single-family properties sold in 2015 were estimated as a function of the characteristics of the property, the housing and population characteristics of the neighbourhood, block group fixed effects and two separate measures of sex offender presence: a) the distance of the nearest registered sex offender to sold single-family properties; and b) the density of registered sex offenders within a half mile distance to sold single-family properties. Registered sex offender distance and density are associated with sale price when controlling for property characteristics and observed neighbourhood characteristics of the property, but these relationships cease to exist when unobserved neighbourhood characteristics are accounted for in the model.

Effect of Metrolink Light Rail Stations on Residential Property Values in St. Louis County, Missouri, USA

This study investigated how light rail stations in St. Louis County impact the property values (especially single-family owner-occupied properties) for residences located nearby using publically accessible data. The preliminary finding indicated that a premium is present for properties located near transportation facilities; however, the effect is inconsistent for light rail in other cities. Assessment data was analyzed to determine if single-family properties located in the station area have higher property values compared to a control area. Station and control areas were designated at 365 meters (1,200 feet) and between 548 and 853 meters (1,800 and 2,800 feet), respectively. Regression modeling was used to measure differences in assessed values between the station and control areas while controlling for house size. Of the nine station areas with sufficient data, five showed positive effects from being located within 365 meters (1,200 feet) of a station. Premiums ranged from 4.1% to 7.1%. The remaining four station areas showed no effect. Additionally, analysis of sales values indicated that properties in the station areas are valued higher than is indicated by the assessed value.

Climate gentrification: from theory to empiricism in Miami-Dade County, Florida

This article provides a conceptual model for the pathways by which climate change could operate to impact geographies and property markets whose inferior or superior qualities for supporting the built environment are subject to a descriptive theory known as ‘Climate Gentrification.’ The article utilizes Miami-Dade County, Florida (MDC) as a case study to explore the market mechanisms that speak to the operations and processes inherent in the theory. This article tests the hypothesis that the rate of price appreciation of single-family properties in MDC is positively related to and correlated with incremental measures of higher elevation (the ‘Elevation Hypothesis’). As a reflection of an increase in observed nuisance flooding and relative SLR, the second hypothesis is that the rates of price appreciation in lowest the elevation cohorts have not kept up with the rates of appreciation of higher elevation cohorts since approximately 2000 (the ‘Nuisance Hypothesis’). The findings support a validation of both hypotheses and suggest the potential existence of consumer preferences that are based, in part, on perceptions of flood risk and/or observations of flooding. These preferences and perceptions are anticipated to be amplified by climate change in a manner that reinforces the proposition that climate change impacts will affect the marketability and valuation of property with varying degrees of environmental exposure and resilience functionality. Uncovering these empirical relationships is a critical first step for understanding the occurrence and parameters of Climate Gentrification.

A spatial hedonic analysis of the housing market around a large, failing desert lake: the case of the Salton Sea in California

Many lakes around the world exhibit acute environmental stress due to water transfers, persistent droughts, and polluted runoff. In addition, falling water levels worsen air quality by exposing desiccated shores. To our knowledge, however, no published hedonic study has analyzed the costs of deteriorating water quality jointly with the air quality impacts of falling water levels for a large inland water body. We conduct such an analysis for the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California. Our spatial autoregressive models estimated on single-family properties located within 10 miles (16.1 km) of the Sea show that a 1 km reduction in distance to the Sea results in a $595 decrease in the price of a single-family residence. In addition, a 1% increase in annual particulate matter concentration reduces the value of the average family residence by $1,140. These results highlight the vulnerability of poor rural communities to deteriorating environmental conditions.

Assessing the economic benefits and resilience of complete streets in Orlando, FL: A natural experimental design approach

Abstract Complete Streets are designed to allow for safe access and use for all (e.g., pedestrians, bicyclists, transit commuters, motorists) to improve mobility and accessibility. Retrofitting Complete Street designs acts as an intervention by increasing active transportation activity and providing safety benefits (e.g., reducing motor vehicle involved crashes and injuries); however there is insufficient evidence related to economic benefits of this redesign. This study applied a natural experiment design to: (1) explore the economic benefits on single-family (SF) property value appreciation before-and-after the implementation of the Complete Street during the housing market boom (from 2000 to 2007), and (2) examine the economic resilience of Complete Street designs on maintaining SF property values during the housing market crash (from 2007 to 2011) at Edgewater Dr. in Orlando, FL. Propensity score matching was used to match intervention and control residences with similar building attributes. On average, SF homes exposed to Complete Streets had 8.2% and 4.3% higher home value appreciation and home value resilience than their counterparts in the adjacent non-exposed control area during housing market boom and recession, respectively. Further, on average, SF homes exposed to Complete Streets experienced relatively higher, at 2.7% and 1.6%, home value appreciation and home value resilience than their control counterparts around the nonadjacent auto-oriented control roads during housing market boom and recession, respectively. The implications of this study can inform local planning practice providing evidence that Complete Streets perform better than conventional street designs on maintaining a ‘healthy’ housing market in both economic boom and recession. The economic benefits found can be integrated with research that demonstrates public health and safety benefits of Complete Streets to address the current barriers in implementing Complete Streets and support for policies facilitating the implementation of Complete Streets nationally.

Effects of bus transit-oriented development (BTOD) on single-family property value in Seattle metropolitan area

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is considered to be a powerful model intended to achieve sustainable urban development. A well-designed TOD enhances the accessibility of different kinds of activities, reduces transportation costs and improves the comfort and safety of travel for the neighbourhood as whole, thereby increasing the willingness to pay for real estate properties located nearby. This study examines the housing price premiums of bus transit-oriented development (BTOD), a particular type of TOD that has become quite common in practice, especially in cities where public transportation is provided primarily through a bus system instead of a metro or light rail system. BTOD projects are built at major nodes of a bus network and typically include housing units and commercial services. Our research focuses on four completed BTODs in the Seattle metropolitan area, and employs data on sales prices, physical attributes, neighbourhood characteristics and location features for almost 7000 single-family homes located within a 1.5-mile radius. Using Hedonic price analysis, we find that these BTODs have generated significant positive effects on the values of adjacent homes, especially those located within 0.5 miles. Results from a more sophisticated longitudinal analysis using the data for Renton, one of the BTODs, confirm the price premiums while gaining additional insights about the temporal variations. These findings have an important policy implication, which is especially relevant for cities with an extensive bus transit system: local governments can generate additional tax revenues while advancing sustainability through bus transit-oriented developments.

Impacts of transportation infrastructure on single-family property values

ABSTRACTNew or long-standing public infrastructure such as highways, airports, and ports of entry (POE) can increase adjacent property values generating a value premium for private developers and adjacent property owners. States and local governments aim to determine the geographic footprint and anticipate the economic value created by transportation infrastructure proximity and accessibility since it represents an opportunity to capture some infrastructure costs. Hence, it is desirable to understand the degree of correlation between transportation infrastructure proximity and changes in real property values in a spatial context particularly when defining economic development zones where transportation investments are planned and where governments expect to recover some of the infrastructure cost from increases in real property values. This research applies geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis to determine the geographic footprint and quantify the impacts of transportation infrastructure proximity and accessibility on real property values in El Paso, Texas using a 2013 cross-sectional data set. The presence of spatial nonstationarity and heterogeneity confirms that transportation infrastructure proximity and accessibility might generate premiums on real property values, but that such premiums are not always positive and are occasionally negative. GWR shows that benefits from a transportation facility can be capitalized by non-adjacent parcels. Finally, GWR maps can help better policy development by estimating how much value is added by infrastructure proximity and accessibility throughout particular locations.

Rail transit investment and property values: An old tale retold

Although a number of researchers have used the hedonic pricing model to value transit improvements by comparing prices of real estate properties within a certain distance from a transit station with those beyond that distance, the accuracy of these assessments is subject to questioning due to methodological limitations. By analyzing single-family and multi-family property sale transactions in Los Angeles (CA) during 2003 and 2004, this spatial hedonic study examines how the property value effects of rail transit can become volatile depending on housing markets, rail transit technologies, near-station land uses and transit development phases. By contrasting results from the spatial Durbin models and the Geographically Weighted Regression models with those from the conventional Ordinary Least Squares approach, the study shows the estimation accuracy can be improved considerably by controlling for the spatial dependence effect. Proximity to mature rail transit stations generally benefits multi-family property values, but the effect is negative for single-family properties. Residents (especially those from single-family households) seem to favor proximity to heavy rail transit more than light rail services. The premiums for rail transit accessibility also largely depend on different development phases and can be heavily discounted by the existence of Park-and-Ride facilities. This study provides policy makers with new empirical evidence and analytical tools to revisit value capture as a financing alternative and to reform investment strategies for rail transit services.

Affordability of the National Flood Insurance Program: Application to Charleston County, South Carolina

AbstractIn March 2014, Congress passed legislation delaying the phasing-in of premium increases on discounted flood insurance policies that had been authorized in July 2012 by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act. This reversal highlights the tension between the realization of risk-based premiums and affordability of flood insurance for homeowners in flood-prone areas. This study on Charleston County, South Carolina, seeks to understand how the tension can be resolved using a voucher program coupled with required mitigation. It specifically focuses on home elevation as the mitigation method. This paper demonstrates a potential average increase of 108 to 159% for high-risk single-family properties in Special Flood Hazard Areas in Charleston moving from a current discounted premium to a full risk-based premium as proposed by the 2012 legislation. Implementation of the proposed voucher program coupled with required mitigation can reduce government expenditures by more than half over a program that d...

Assessing Benefits of Neighborhood Walkability to Single-Family Property Values

This article investigates the impact of neighborhood walkability, measured by Street Smart Walk Score and sidewalk density, on property values by analyzing the 2010–2012 single-family home sale transactions in Austin, Texas. The Cliff-Ord spatial hedonic model (also known as the General Spatial Model, or SAC) is used to control for spatial autocorrelation effects. Results show that improving walkability through increased access to amenities in car-dependent neighborhoods does not appear to increase property values; adding sidewalks in these neighborhoods leads to a minimal increase in property values. Investments in neighborhood amenities and sidewalks will yield a greater home price increase in a walkable neighborhood than in a car-dependent neighborhood.