Does urban subcentres influence housing prices? An analysis of the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona

In the monocentric classic model the bid rent theory suggest a trade-off between land value and transport costs between residential location and the CBD where all employment is likely to be concentrated. Nevertheless, contemporary metropolises significantly apart from that stylized model for a number of reasons. Firstly, monocentricity coexist with polynucleation and employment diffusion and, secondly the place of work does not exerts the only, and probably, nor the main influence on quotidian travel behaviour, since transport surveys reveals an emergence of non-labour mobility. In this paper we test in Barcelona Metropolitan Area, a very well recognised polycentric Mediterranean city, whether proximity to subcentres is a key determinant of housing prices. Using listing prices an hedonic model is built, and the asking price is regressed over the distance to different subcenters, identified by analysing the travel and spatial behaviour of people, among other control variables. The results suggest that subcentres does exert little influence on housing prices and other amenities have a significant influence on the spatial distribution of values.