The Impact of Transit-Oriented Development on Residential Property Value in King County, WA

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2015Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has long been a powerful tool for improving sustainable urban development. A well-designed TOD project enhances the accessibility to different kinds of activities, decreases transportation cost, and increases the travel comfort level, thereby expanding the willingness to pay for the properties around it. This study measures the impact of Transit-Oriented Development on single-family property value within 1.5 mile radius around Renton Transit Center, a TOD project implemented 18 years ago in King County, WA. Using time-series Hedonic Price Analysis (HPA), results of this study corroborate the mainstream view that TOD has premium effects on surrounding property values. Controlling other variables affecting housing price, increasing the accessibility to the Transit Center by one standard deviation distance (1890 feet, or about 0.36 mile) is associated with an 11% increase of the housing price during TOD-construction time. In post-TOD time, increasing the accessibility by one standard deviation distance (1781 feet, or about 0.33 mile) is linked to a 13% increase of the housing price. Results for time-series dummy variables show that properties sold at a lower price in pre-TOD time than those after TOD took into effect. Then, Hedonic Method is used for three time intervals of before-TOD, during-TOD, and post-TOD. Results show that the insignificant influence of TOD accessibility before TOD operation becomes significantly positive after TOD took place. However, the premium effect of TOD could be reduced due to TOD-related nuisance. Properties located in areas with high percentage of commercial uses and very compact street network systems were sold at a discount. This suggests that besides benefiting from station accessibility, station area properties may also have suffered from TOD-related nuisance that can reduce the benefits to some extent. Findings suggest that local government under fiscal stress could generate additional revenue source through innovative TOD projects and programs, yet to find an appropriate strategy for mixed land use development near the station also needs to be considered