Impact of Increasing Intercity Connectivity on Local Housing Markets: Study of China's Yangtze River Delta Region

The continuous improvement of urban accessibility has had an increasingly prominent impact on the housing market, especially on urban housing prices. In this process, high speed rail (HSR) can play a key role. Based on urban panel data relating to the Yangtze River Delta in China (2010-2018), this paper discusses the direct impact and spatial spillover effect of HSR on urban housing prices, using a spatial econometric model. The results show that improvements in the HSR services not only significantly increased urban housing prices but also had a positive spatial spillover effect. Morover, due to the space-time compression consequence of HSR, the extant "ripple effect" of housing prices has been further strengthened, and improvements in the service frequency of HSR has brought about a stronger spatial spillover effect on housing prices. This study fills a gap in previous spatial perspective research on the impact of HSR on urban housing prices and offers significant theoretical explanations and empirical evidence. Our research provides valuable inputs for the planning and implementing of stratgies aiming to promote urban development and create economic growth through HSR construction.