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Traffic calming and neighborhood livability: Evidence from housing prices in Portland

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  • Polloni, Stefano

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of traffic calming on the livability of urban residential streets. Using geo-referenced data on the installation of 1187 calming devices in Portland (OR), I test whether the interventions locally affect housing prices during succeeding years. I provide reduced-form evidence that city dwellers pay significant premiums to limit their exposure to motor vehicles, but obtain mixed results regarding the overall price impacts of calming devices. My estimates suggest that only the most effective traffic calming measures have a detectable impact on housing prices. The implied traffic flow elasticity is −0.07: projects decreasing traffic by 16% raise home values on treated streets by 1%.

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  • Polloni, Stefano, 2019. "Traffic calming and neighborhood livability: Evidence from housing prices in Portland," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 18-37.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:74:y:2019:i:c:p:18-37
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2018.11.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Guiwen Liu & Jiayue Zhao & Hongjuan Wu & Taozhi Zhuang, 2022. "Spatial Pattern of the Determinants for the Private Housing Rental Prices in Highly Dense Populated Chinese Cities—Case of Chongqing," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-22, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Traffic externalities; Street livability; Urban policy; Housing market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics

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