Examining Property Value Increment along Greenways: A Hedonic Pricing Analysis in Chengdu, China

Abstract

Greenways are networks of green corridors of various widths that have attracted increasing scholarly and policy interest due to their economic influence on proximate property values. However, most existing studies have focused on community-scale greenway projects. On the urban scale, in particular, there is a lack of understanding of the heterogeneity of greenway economic influences on property values. In Chengdu, China, the recently developed Jincheng Greenway is a special case, characterized by large-scale green spaces and value capture policies. Through hedonic pricing analysis, we examined the influence of the Jincheng Greenway on proximate properties based on 106,328 transaction records of preowned apartments between January 2017 and December 2020. Empirical results show that apartments along greenways have higher prices compared with apartments 500 m away. However, proximity to a greenway does not necessarily lead to higher prices because apartments located 500 m–1 km from a greenway will benefit more from greenways than those located within 500 m. Moreover, compared with the assumed increment in the value capture policies, the actual increases were smaller than the policy expectations. As a result, both the increase in property value and the areas influenced by the greenway deviated from what was anticipated in the original land value capture policy. From this perspective, this study contributes to examining the economic benefits of citywide greenway projects in the Chinese context and provides essential evidence for future land value capture policies related to greenway development.