The capitalization of spatial healthcare accessibility into house prices in Taiwan: an application of spatial quantile regression

Purpose Population ageing is fast becoming a major social concern across the globe. This ageing trend unavoidably fuels elders' demand for healthcare services. As the main users of health care service, whether the healthcare is geographically approachable in local areas is more imperative to senior residents with restricted mobility. This paper proposes to examine the effect of elders' healthcare accessibility on property prices of Taipei Metropolis, Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach Luo and Qi's (2009) enhanced two-step floating catchment area method - taking both healthcare demand and supply into account - was used to measure three types of healthcare services: "physician-to-elder ratio", "hospital bed-to-elder ratio" and "ambulance-to-elder ratio". Spatial quantile regression (SQR) model was then used to examine the spatial effect of healthcare accessibility on different property price ranges. Findings The "physician-to-elder ratio" and "hospital bed-to-elder ratio" demonstrated expected consistent positive effects across all quantiles of property prices (p < 0.01) in SQR, and its effects aggravated as the quantiles of property prices rose. The "ambulance-to-elder ratio" demonstrated a non-linear influence on property prices (i.e. a negative effect on lowest quantile prices but a positive on higher quantile prices) possibly due to the semi-obnoxious characteristic of the ambulance. That is, residents living in lower priced neighbourhoods may dislike ambulances' annoying sound of sirens (i.e. ambulances' disamenity), while residents living in higher valued neighbourhoods may on the contrary appreciate ambulances' healthcare services (i.e. amenity). Practical implications These findings are expected to offer some insights for government's policies in providing elders in their later years with good residential quality and easy access to healthcare resource. Originality/value This paper is one of the few studies that consider the capitalization of the spatial healthcare accessibility to elders into property prices. In this ageing trend across the globe, although all the accessibility to medical resources should be equally critical, the application of spatial quantile regression revealed residents' inconsistent tendency against semi-obnoxious ambulances. It provides a different perspective in defining the importance of healthcare accessibility in neighbourhoods.