Close enough: housing price effects of urban parks, reserves and volcanic parks in Auckland, New Zealand

Purpose - This study aims to test whether the size of and distance to the nearest green space has any effects on residential property transaction prices in Auckland, New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach - This paper divides all green spaces in Auckland into three categories, namely, urban parks, regional reserves and volcanic parks (a unique feature in Auckland, New Zealand). This study uses six years of residential property transaction data to estimate hedonic price regressions. For each property, this paper calculates the size of and distance to the nearest park in each category. Findings - The logged sizes of the nearest regional reserve and volcanic park have positive effects on property prices. The logged distances to the nearest urban park and volcanic park are insignificant, while the logged distance to the nearest regional reserve is positively significant. In other words, homebuyers prefer larger regional reserves and volcanic parks and prefer to be further away. Originality/value - Auckland is ranked as a top-five city in the world in terms of the proportion of public green space, trailing four European cities. However, because of Auckland’s much younger age, it presents a very different urban form. The study shows that the distribution of green space (not only its total amount) can bring negative capitalization on property prices.