The effect of bike lane infrastructure on urban housing markets

Across the United States, cities are increasing their level of investment in bicycle infrastructure. The environmental and health benefits of this infrastructure are clear, but less research has been conducted on its economic impacts. This study examines the effect of bicycle infrastructure, specifically bike lanes, on New York City housing markets. Specifically, I look at the impact of bike lane length on median rent and percent vacancy in a given census tract. In addition to the independent variable of focus, bike lane length, census-based data was used to control for other economic and demographic factors that could impact property values. To control for endogenous factors, model tracts with and without bike lanes were matched using a propensity score matching method. In the preferred model, results suggest that the addition of one standard deviation of bike lane meters to a census tract decreases median rent values by $29.97 in addition to raising vacancy rates, meaning that bike lane infrastructure has a negative effect on urban neighborhoods