Be Careful what You wish for

Although it is commonly held that accessibility plays a role in house price determination, there is less explicit recognition that it is transportation infrastructure that is primarily delivering that accessibility. Large additions to the transportation infrastructure tend to be well studied, but there is a dearth of empirical research that investigates the house price impacts when local transportation infrastructure is incrementally invested in. If these smaller investments also impact accessibility, then there should be a measurable impact in the housing market. Although results show that this is in fact the case for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, over the years 1995-2000, the price impact is not universally positive. The nature of the price impact depends on the location of the investment, relative to the house and regional accessibility points, and on how long ago the investment was completed.