Open space amenities, land uses, and property values in Tucson: Using a geographic information system to improve hedonic models.

Abstract

The Hedonic Valuation Method (HVM) was used to estimate the relationship between housing values, open space amenities, and non-residential land uses in the Tucson Urban Area. Using a Geographic Information System, it was possible to estimate a Benchmark Model that incorporated a wide range of open space amenity and land use variables and a complete enumeration of census blocks. Eight alternative model specifications were estimated with: rental values excluded, fewer open space and land use variables, land use data aggregated at different levels of census geography, and incrementally smaller sample sizes. Statistical and economic comparisons between the Benchmark and alternative models included: R² values, standard errors, F-tests, and the magnitude and stability of both marginal implicit prices and housing value elasticities. Results indicate that the exclusion of open space amenity variables, the use of different levels of census geography to aggregate land use data, and the use of samples of census blocks, all have the potential to reduce the quality of HVM estimates.