A hedonic valuation of open space in Northampton

Policies to conserve open space are an important part of land-use planning as open space provides many benefits to communities. This study uses the hedonic valuation method to estimate the value of open space in Northampton, Massachusetts. A dataset of 3,017 houses was used to study the effects of the distance to and amount of recreation and conserved open space on house sales prices from 1991 to 2014. The results show that living adjacent to recreation and conserved open space is negatively associated with house sales prices. Results on amount of open space surrounding a house are not statistically significant