Estimating the Impacts of Proximity to Public Transportation on Residential Property Values: An Empirical Analysis for Hartford and Stamford Areas, Connecticut

Public transit infrastructure may increase residential property values by improving accessibility and reducing commute expenses in urban areas. Prior studies have investigated the impacts of the proximity to public transportation on property values and obtained mixed conclusions. Many of these studies were focused on one transit mode for a single city. In this study, a hedonic pricing model is constructed to investigate the impacts of commuter rail/Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and bus lines separately in two different areas: the Stamford area (Stamford–Darien–New Canaan) and the Hartford area (Hartford–West Hartford–East Hartford), Connecticut. Comparison of the results from Ordinary Least Square and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) indicates that estimation accuracy can be improved by considering local variation. Results from GWR show that impacts of proximity to bus and rail/BRT on property values vary spatially in the Hartford area. Negative impacts of bus stops are found in downtown Hartford and positive impacts in the west and east sides of Hartford. Impacts from rail/BRT are relatively minor compared with bus lines, partly due to the relatively recent launching of the BRT and Hartford rail line. In contrast, most properties in the Stamford area show appreciation towards rail service and depreciation to bus service. This study reveals the roles of different public transit systems in affecting residential property values. It also provides empirical evidence for future transit-oriented development in this region for uplifting the real estate market.