Exploring government open data: understanding contributions of better walkability to real estate pricing

Abstract

We analyse the relationship between various elements of walkability and real estate transaction price with a hedonic approach to understand which factor influences the real estate transaction price. We use detailed and directly measurable data of real-estate transaction price and walkability based on the City of Vienna government open data, which became recently available. With this large dataset, we analyse the relationship with several subsets of the samples, e.g. stratified by approved building height (low or high) and with certain land use types e.g. residential or industrial/commercial, to understand context-dependent importance of different walkability elements reflected in the real-estate transaction price. The valuation of walkability is potentially different in different urban contexts. The pedestrian-friendliness in a near proximity, such as the ratios of walkable pavement, greened pavement and beautified pavement, are more nuanced in low-rise and residential areas than high-rise and industrial or commercial areas when it comes to land transaction prices. A similar conclusion can be drawn for the trees, too. This may open up a potential for financing publicly funded walkability improvements if such additional value can be monetized as e.g. property taxation or property transaction taxation is introduced.