Canals vs. streams: To what extent do water quality and proximity affect real estate values? A hedonic approach analysis

Abstract

The presence of and proximity to water influences human settlement decisions, because water has been able to characterize the environment and affect human health since prehistoric times. Many scholars have studied the effects of environmental amenities on the real estate market; however, only a few of them have explored the effects of water. This study stresses the role of water with a focus on the dichotomy between artificial and natural waterways (canals vs. streams), which involves managerial and qualitative differences. A hedonic approach, based on a large web scraped and geo-referenced dataset of 10,530 observations, is used to analyze the effect of water proximity and quality on residential housing prices in the province of Milan (Italy). Our main results show a significant but conflicting impact of water proximity on real estate value: reducing the canal distance, we observe an increase in the residential housing sale price, in urban more than peri-urban environments; in contrast, reducing the stream distance, our results show decreases in property value. Moreover, a significant moderating effect of water quality on distance from streams is identifiable.