Expressway Proximity Effects on Property Prices in Hangzhou, China: Multidimensional Housing Submarket Approach

The impacts of public transportation facilities on property prices have generated wide concerns, whereas little attention has been paid to the price impacts of automobile-oriented facilities, especially the urban expressway. Using residential property transactions and the Desheng Expressway data from 2018 in Hangzhou, China, capitalization effects of the expressway on property prices are deeply gauged through hedonic price models and quantile regression models. Furthermore, the special concern on how the impacts differ across city regions and property price segments reveals the submarket effects of the expressway from multiple perspectives. The results indicate that properties proximity to the expressway experience significant price premiums, which first increase and then decrease with the distance from the expressway. Moreover, there are stronger preferences of households for elevated expressways in suburban areas and low-priced property neighborhoods, reflected in higher price premiums. It is worth noting that tunnel expressways have the greatest impact on property prices due to the strong willingness of homebuyers to pay for access to job and leisure, as well as clean and quiet living environments. The findings add new insights to the understanding of the economic impacts of expressways and provide policymakers with references to make reasonable public investment decisions.