| Six categories of variables are used to explain the variations of single-family suburban housing values: housing characteristics and conditions, amenities, accessibilities, socio-economic characteristics, existing land use, and land-use regulations (zoning and comprehensive planning). Three circular buffers surrounding each single-family housing unit are utilized as neighborhood units: adjacent, medium, and large neighborhoods, with radii of 100 meters, 400 meters, and 1 mile, respectively. Socio-economic characteristics, existing land use, and zoning characteristics are converted into neighborhood units by using allocation factors based on the intersection of Census blocks and parcels data using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Delaware County, Ohio is chosen as the case study, because it has been the fastest growing county in Central Ohio and the tenth fastest growing county in the U.S. A total number of 3144 single-family housing units are selected. The effects of neighborhood characteristics on housing values are analyzed in the individual neighborhood models and the multi-neighborhood model. The Box-Cox transformation with two parameters is applied: one for the dependent variable (lambda), and one for all independent variables (mu). The maximum log likelihood of the integrated model is achieved with the value of lambda = 0.30 and the value of mu = 0.02. The mean elasticity is used to compare the effects of each variable on housing values. We find that floor area, fire places, basement, and garage capacity have positive effects and increase housing values. The average price of housing in the neighborhood, the share of middle-income people, the share of people who drive cars to work, the share of people who work outside the county, and the share of people who works in nonagriculture activities are significant, which characterizes typical suburbanization. The share of existing residential land use and the share of land zoned for low- and medium-density residences increase housing values, due to the certainty of compatible land development. The share of land zoned for agriculture and open space decreases housing values in the suburbs, due to its restriction on development. Homeowners are willing to pay significantly more to live in an area which is comprehensively planned. |
