by A Troy, JM Grove

Landscape and Urban Planning 87(3): 233-245

2008

This paper examines the nature of the connection between property values, proximity to urban parks, and the crime rate. The authors challenge the generally accepted notion that urban parks are positive amenities based on past research that revealed that some parks are perceived as neighborhood liabilities. The authors analyzed internal and external factors that determine residential property values based on proximity to a park in Baltimore, Maryland. The property price also factored in the robbery and rape rates for the census block group. Out of these considerations, four models were developed with different transformations of the distance to the park and selling price. The results show that proximity to a park is positively correlated with the housing price when the robbery and rape rates are below a specific limit (crime index between 406% and 484% of the national average). When the crime index exceeds that limit, it adversely affects the home’s value.

Region: Baltimore, Maryland
Publication Type: Journal article
Keywords: crime, greenspace, hedonic valuation, parks, and property values