The Effect of Proximity to Urban Rail on Housing Prices in Ottawa

Increasingly, urban rail transit (URT) is seen as a desirable solution for transportation challenges faced by both urban planners and residents of suburban areas alike. The availability and ease of access to URT, in turn, may result in distortions in local real estate markets. The conventional wisdom, in fact, suggests that construction of urban rail lines serves as a magnet for new housing development and, in turn, can lead to increases in property values in proximity to URT stations. Existing studies have, in good measure, confirmed this belief, but largely on the basis of global area studies that can often mask locally differentiating factors affecting housing prices. Using data from the City of Ottawa, this study seeks to move beyond such analyses by using spatial regression and mapping techniques that reveal that the relationship between URT stations and housing prices is far more complex than is commonly believed. The study demonstrates that while at the macro-level housing prices do vary positively with proximity to URT stations, the relationship is spatially dependent and may be affected by factors unique to specific locales.