The Amenity Value of English Nature: A Hedonic Price Approach

Abstract

Using a hedonic property price approach, we estimate the amenity value associated with proximity to habitats, designated areas, domestic gardens and other natural amenities inEngland. There is a long tradition of studies looking at the effect of environmental amenities and disamenities on property prices. But, to our knowledge, this is the first nationwide study of the value of proximity to a large number of natural amenities in England. We analysed 1 million housing transactions over 1996-2008 and considered a large number of environmental characteristics. Results reveal that the effects of many of these environmental variables are highly statistically significant, and are quite large in economic magnitude. Gardens, green space and areas of water within the census ward all attract a considerable positive price premium. There is also a strong positive effect from freshwater and flood plain locations, broadleaved woodland, coniferous woodland and enclosed farmland. Increasing distance to natural amenities such as rivers, National Parks and National Trust sites is unambiguously associated with a fall in house prices. Our preferred regression specifications control for unobserved labour market and other geographical factors using Travel to Work Area fixed effects, and the estimates are fairly insensitive to changes in specification and sample. This provides some reassurance that the hedonic price results provide a useful representation of the values attached to proximity to environmental amenities in England. Overall, we conclude that the house market in England reveals substantial amenity value attached to a number of habitats, designations, private gardens and local environmental amenities.

Investigating How the Rents of Small Urban Houses are Determined: Using Spatial Hedonic Modeling for Urban Residential Housing in Seoul

“…Locational factors considered in property valuation studies to date are closely related to accessibility measures. Accessibility to major business districts, transportation infrastructure such as major roads, bus stops, and subway and railway stations, and various facilities including schools, shopping centers, and churches were examined [14][15][16]. The relationship between housing prices and location in a particular zone such as a commercial zone has also been explored [12].…”

Canals vs. Streams: To What Extent Do Water Quality and Proximity Affect Real Estate Values? A Hedonic Approach Analysis

“…After we analyzed the literature, we chose the hedonic price model for our analysis [27,30,[33][34][35]. The hedonic price model consists of a semi-logarithmic least squares hedonic model that is ascribable to the following general formula [34]:…”

“…The hedonic price model consists of a semi-logarithmic least squares hedonic model that is ascribable to the following general formula [34]:…”

Useful Plants Grown and Maintained in Domestic Gardens of the Capricorn District, Limpopo Province, South Africa

“…Private gardening is known to be linked to personal tastes and pleasure (Marco et al 2010) and which differ according to the garden layout and planted species Molebatsi et al 2010). About 22-36 percent of the total urban green space that produces these useful plants, ecosystem goods and services is located in private domestic gardens (Gaston et al 2005;Mathieu et al 2007) and probably on 3-4 percent of the total land mass (Alloway 2004;Gibbons et al 2011;Cameron et al 2012).…”