Transport Costs and Urban Property Values in the 1970s

In this paper we use data on property values published annually for the 56 local government areas in the Melbourne metropolitan area to investigate the response of the property market to the oil price rises of the seventies. We show that property values appeared to have responded rapidly to the Australian petrol price increase of 1978, more accessible properties gaining in value relative to less accessible. The 1973 increase was not passed on to Australian consumers but the depression in manufacturing industry which started after it, also had an impact on the property market as values in areas where manufacturing workers lived fell in value relative to others.