Land values at the rural-urban fringe: A spatial econometric analysis

Population pressures, along with economic activity in urban areas, influence rural land markets at the rural-urban fringe. Estimating the influence of location and economic development at the rural-urban fringe using traditional econometric procedures may result in inaccurate estimates if spatial autocorrelation exists in the data. Findings from this analysis suggest that spatial econometric procedures result in models that better fit the data. Predictions from hedonic rural land value models, along with GIS procedures, are used to estimate rural land value contours. These contours provide a visual picture of the effect of location and economic development on rural land values.