Illuminating the impacts of brownfield redevelopments on neighboring housing prices: Case of Cuyahoga County, Ohio in the US

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of brownfield redevelopments on neighboring housing prices in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. We examine the levels and trends in housing prices before and after the remediation of brownfields in neighborhoods based on parcel-level housing sales data from 1996 to 2007. We use the Adjusted Interrupted Time Series-Difference in Differences model to explain the causal direction of impacts of brownfield redevelopments. We explore impacts on nearby property values from the remediation of brownfield sites countywide and in neighborhoods stratified by family income. This paper also specifies how the impact of brownfield redevelopments varies under different land use upon completion of remediation. Our countywide model shows that brownfield sites have a negative impact on surrounding housing prices. However, after brownfields are redeveloped, the negative impacts of contaminated sites on neighboring housing prices are removed. It is notable that brownfield redevelopment in commercial and recreational land use has positive impacts on nearby property values. Our findings also show that there are significant positive impacts on surrounding housing prices in low- and middle-income neighborhoods. These results will help policymakers better understand how the remediation of brownfields affects neighborhoods and develop policies to reap the maximum economic benefit from brownfield redevelopments.