Are Homeowners Willing to Pay More for Access to Parks? Evidence from a Spatial Hedonic Study of the Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Park System

This paper examines the impacts of the City of Cincinnati urban park system on residential property values using two local spatial hedonic model specications: the spatial Durbin error model (SDEM) model, and the spatial lag of X model (SLX). Specically, we examine how the distance to parks, the size of the nearest park, and the presence of park facilities for recreational activities, aect property values. Our results show that decreasing the distance to a park by one meter appreciates of the value of the average house in our sample by $3.44 to $6.27. A one hectare increase in the park size appreciates house values by $22.24 to $22.48 and the presence of park facilities for recreational activities depreciates house values by an estimated $4,612 to 5,300 for properties within a 500 meter radius to the nearest park.