Impact Of Transit-oriented Infrastructure Investments on Property Valuations

Abstract

The population explosion of the second half of the last century brought about increased human activity. Much of the attendant increased access to activities has been facilitated by the incredible technological advances in the automobile, which depends almost entirely on fossil fuels. Supplies of fossil fuel are limited and the automobile has led to urban sprawl, traffic congestion, and reduced quality to life in cities (1). This type of development is unsustainable. Transit-oriented development (TOD) is one of the neo-urbanism response instruments. The question is: "How well do these urban forms perform in North-Central Texas? In response, this study has developed an econometric disaggregate model for the assessment of the impact of TODs on micro-level property valuation. Two TODs in the region, Addison Town Center and Plano Transit Village are case analyzed in a disaggregate framework with Richardson as the control site. The analysis test the hypothesis, among others, that: "TODs have positive impacts on property values." Findings support this thesis. Efficient simple fixed effects model estimates show positive coefficients for unconditional and conditional proxy variables for the impact of TODs on property valuation for properties within a ¼-mile radius of each TOD center.