Citation:

Mazzotta, Marisa J., E. Besedin, AND A. Speers. A Meta-Analysis of Hedonic Studies to Assess the Property Value Effects of Low Impact Development. Resources. MDPI, Basel, Switzerland, 3(1):31-61, (2014).

Impact/Purpose:

Stormwater runoff from urban areas is a significant source of pollution to our nation’s waters. Low impact development (LID) practices retain stormwater volume on site, thereby improving surface water quality hydrology in water bodies that receive stormwater runoff, enhancing groundwater recharge, reducing flood risk and preventing soil erosion. Along with these primary benefits, many LID practices provide ancillary or co-benefits, resulting from increased vegetation in developed areas. The benefits of increased vegetation may be reflected in increased property values for both newly developed properties in locations employing these techniques, and existing properties located near areas with increased green spaces. In this paper, we present a meta-analysis designed to evaluate the property value effects of LID practices that replace impervious surfaces with vegetated green spaces.

Description:

Stormwater runoff from urban areas is a significant source of water pollution in the United States. Many states are promoting low impact development (LID) practices, which provide a variety of direct and ancillary ecosystem services. We describe a meta-analysis designed to evaluate the property value benefits of environmental site design (ESD), a form of LID that reduces impervious surfaces and increases vegetated areas in developments. We present an example application to the state of Illinois. From the many hedonic property valuation studies of the benefits of general open space, we identified 36 studies that value open spaces similar in nature to the small, dispersed open spaces characteristic of ESD. The meta-regression estimates the percent change in a home’s value for a specified percent change in open space within a specified radius of a parcel, based on changes expected to result from typical ESD approaches. Our results indicate that the design and characteristics of ESD affect the magnitude of benefits, and that values decline with distance. Our results point to the fact that targeting meta-analysis to the specific policy context, through study selection and choice of categorical variables directly relevant to the context of interest, should provide more appropriate estimates of benefits relative to point value transfer.

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