Infrastructure Accessibility Measures and Property Values

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between accessibility to services and transport infrastructure and property prices. Empirical evidence shows that an increase in accessibility levels tends to result in a positive impact on property values. However, assessing this potential benefit is not straightforward. In this research, we first clarify which are the methods mainly employed to measure accessibility to services and infrastructures; then, we build a dataset of indicators useful to define the price function. The output is the characterization of a Hedonic Pricing Model (HPM) able to evaluate the effect of accessibility on residential properties, seldom considered in estimates. Two main findings emerge from the study. The first is that an HPM should be a function not only of the traditional intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics generally used to explain property values, but also of specific accessibility indicators, distinguishing between local and system accessibility. The second is that HPM, generally based on the use of multiple regression models, fails to consider the spatial correlation that is often particularly significant for the accessibility variable. Therefore, in the case of high levels of spatial heterogeneity, regression models must be supported by spatial econometric models. The study conducted represents a starting point for applications to real case studies that will allow to test the defined model.