The effects of expected transport improvements on housing prices

Abstract

Improvements in transport were commonly found to have a positive effect on the price of housing. As the construction of infrastructure often lasts for years, it is plausible to assume that investors will take expected improvements into consideration when pricing and trading neighbourhood properties. However, there have been few investigations of such effects. This paper is an empirical study of whether premiums were paid for the expected benefits offered by a new tunnel before its completion. The results showed that there were positive price expectation effects well before the completion of the tunnel. The expectation effects allow the government to finance infrastructure projects by selling land in the affected districts in advance. © 2005 The Editors of Urban Studies.