Ecological Considerations in Real Estate Valuation

This paper discusses the use of quantitative cartographic methods in the analysis of the undeveloped land properties located in the territory of the municipality of Zakopane. The municipality of Zakopane is a territory with specific ecological, climatic, natural and environmental characteristics. Approximately 60% of the county is covered by the Tatrzanski National Park. It comprises many ecological landscape features such as parks, green spaces, and vantage points. The presence of these features increases the value of the property, but at the same time in many cases it creates barriers to the property management arising from the environmental protection. This area is frequently visited by tourists. The market analysis is the first stage of the real estate valuation process. It aims at the identification of the factors influencing the value of real property. The market analysis consists in determining the characteristics of the area where the real property is located and finding the features that have a significant influence on the value of the property. The results of market analysis, the availability and the amount of data may affect the selection of a valuation method. These data refer to the sale and purchase transactions of undeveloped land properties between January 2011 and December 2015. Quantitative cartographic methods were applied in order to demonstrate the importance of the reliable selection of representative real properties and its impact on the acquisition of the information about the real estate market under examination. These methods were also used to investigate the spatial distribution of the transactions and the unit prices of undeveloped land properties. The cartographic analysis was conducted using the ArcGIS software and maps available on the Tatrzanski Municipal Geoportal.