On the Effects of Urban Natural Amenities, Architectural Quality and Accessibility to Workplaces on Housing Prices – an Empirical Study on the Helsinki Metropolitan Area
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School of Engineering |
Doctoral thesis (monograph)
| Defence date: 2015-12-18
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Date
2015
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Language
en
Pages
228 + app. 15
Series
Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskus, tutkimuksia, 2015:5
Abstract
Urbanization brings substantial pressure on housing production in the Helsinki metropolitan area over the next few decades. City growth logic has also changed towards densification urban structure. The densification of the urban structure affects in many ways the existing residential areas. One of the main issues of the urban growth is how the quality factors can be maintained or how they can be improved, while new housing will be built in different areas. The price of dwelling is generally considered to be a sum of the three main group of factors - location, structural characteristics and quality of neighborhood of the dwelling. This dissertation studies three factors affecting housing prices: urban natural amenities, architectural quality and accessibility. Contribution of the various features of the apartment housing prices can be examined empirically using the so-called hedonic price method. As regards urban natural amenities, the research focuses on green space and recreational areas as well as unbuilt areas in general. In addition to land use variables, the price effects of urban natural amenities are analysed through distance-based variables. Despite the abundance of green space in Helsinki, urban nature can be identified to have a clear positive effect on housing prices. Concerning architectonic quality, the results indicate that architectonic landmarks, for example, have a positive effect on prices of dwellings in their vicinity. The appreciation of the Art Nouveau style (Jugendstil) is also confirmed by the results. With regard to the accessibility of workplaces, the two alternative measures to the conventional CBD distance – accessibility to all workplaces and the number of workplaces within a 30-minute travel time range – each produce results that have approximately the same explanatory power. A significant finding is that accessibility to workplaces by public transport has a considerably stronger impact on housing prices compared to accessibility by car.Description
Supervising professor
Viitanen, Kauko, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Real Estate, Planning and Geoinformatics, FinlandThesis advisor
Loikkanen, Heikki A., Prof., University of Helsinki, Department of Economics, FinlandKeywords
housing prices, urban natural amenities, architectural quality, accessibility