The value of open space in rural and suburban areas: A spatial hedonic approach
by
Andres Jauregui
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Auburn University
Coauthors: Diane Hite and Brent Sohngen

It has been argued in the urban economics literature that environmental amenities such as parks, lakes, golf courses, and open space lands have an impact on the value of surrounding properties. As the suburban fringe around cities expands, traditional agricultural areas are experiencing changing economies and new migrants whose tastes and preferences differ from older residents. Concerns over the loss of productive agricultural land and the costs of suburban sprawl have led to a number of suggested changes in land use policies. This paper attempts to estimate the value of different types of open space lands to non-farm home owners in agricultural areas. The study area comprises the suburban fringe of Delaware County, Ohio, located north of the city of Columbus. This paper differs from others in the area in two ways. First, it simultaneously estimates a housing price equation and a land price equation to jointly model the impact of house and land characteristics on their respective prices. Second, it considers the possible spatial dependence of housing and land data on property values by estimating a Spatial Durbin Model for both housing and land equations. Each equation will include variables that measure the percentage of different types of land uses specified at various distances from each property. The estimates obtained from these models are relevant for policy makers in developing strategies for protecting environmental resources.

Date received: October 27, 2005

Copyright © 2005 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # carr-19.