Through a hedonic approach this study primarily focuses on how house prices vary systematically with respect to some general spatial structure characteristics in a Norwegian region. The introduction of a gravity based labor market accessibility measure contributes significantly to explain variation in housing prices, also in a model formulation where the distance from the city center is accounted for. Based on these results we suggest a distinction between an urban attraction effect and a labor market accessibility effect. Quantitatively, the two distinct effects are found to contribute about equally to intraregional variation in housing prices.
Standard urban economic theory predicts that house prices will decline with distance from the central business district. Empirical results have been equivocal, however. Disjoints between theory and empirics may be due to a nonmonotonic relationship between house prices and access to employment arising from the negative externalities associated with proximity to multiple centres of employment. Based on data from Glasgow (Scotland), we use gravity-based measures of accessibility estimated using a flexible functional form that allows for nonmonotonicity. The results are thoroughly tested using recent advances in spatial econometrics. We find compelling evidence of a nonmonotonic effect in the accessibility measure and discuss the implications for planning and housing policy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.