Capturing the Value of Public Transportation
Deron Lovaas, Federal Transportation Policy Director, Washington, D.C.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA, of which NRDC is a member) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) rolled out a valuable addition to the lit on transportation today: A study of home-price performance near transit in five metro areas.
The top-line finding? Prices help up an average of 42 percent better from 2006-2011 if a home was located a mile or less from a transit stop.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) actually did the analysis, combing through recorder of deeds sales prices and transit station locations for these metros. This is no mean feat, given the regions selected and the sheer number of stops (and the number of sales!):
- Boston: 134 commuter rail stations, 121 rapid transit stations and 35 bus rapid transit stations;
- Chicago: 240 commuter rail stations and 144 heavy rail stations;
- Minneapolis-St. Paul: 19 light rail stations and 6 commuter rail stations;
- Phoenix: 32 light rail stations; and
- San Francisco: 59 commuter rail stations (although only 28 are in the study area), 44 heavy rail stations, and 255 stations for light rail, cable cars and streetcars.
The findings of the study for each of the regions are summarized in the graph below, with the x axis set at the overall average residential home sales price for each region between 2006-2011.
