Effects of Urban Road Centrality on Property Values: Spatial Hedonic Analysis of the Housing Market in Wuhan, China

Abstract

Road infrastructure plays a crucial role in shaping urban spatial configurations and may generate price premiums in the housing market. In hedonic studies, the externalities of road infrastructure are represented by a set of accessibility variables, typically based on distance or travel time. Most hedonic studies have focused on effects of proximity to urban roads without considering spatial relationships between nodes and edges as well as their relative importance. Meanwhile, spatial dependence has not yet gained much attention. This study evaluates the effects of the spatial layout of urban road systems on property values in the housing market in Wuhan, China, using a weighted multiple-centrality assessment method. The impacts of the scale effect of road centrality indices, spatial dependence on the relationship between house values, and their explanatory variables are also examined. The results show that betweenness significantly affects housing values in Wuhan when the search radius is above 1,500 m. Closeness, however, was unlikely to be a significant variable that homebuyers would consider. The study also highlights the importance of incorporating spatial dependence in hedonic housing analysis.