The impact of urban rail transit on commercial property value: New evidence from Wuhan, China

• The paper reported the impact of urban rail transit on commercial property value from Wuhan, China.
• Spatial autoregressive models were employed to estimate the commercial value capture.
• Positive transit access effect was detected in the 400 m radius of road network distance from Metro stations.
• The transit access premiums for buffer rings in the influence area were estimated and present as two tiers.
• Policy implications for strategic and detailed TOD planning were discussed.

The interaction between rail transit and the urban property market is a vital foundation for planning transit-based policy such as Value Capture and Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Yet only few studies have reported the impact of transit access on commercial property value. This paper presents empirical evidence from Wuhan, China, to enrich the knowledge in the subject area. Spatial autoregressive models were employed to estimate the commercial value capture, based on 676 observations along Wuhan’s metro rail line through the main business districts. Value appreciation was discovered within the 400 m radius of road network distance from Metro stations. The transit access premiums present as two tiers: 16.7% for the 0–100 m core area and approximately 8.0% within the 100–400 m radius. The result demonstrates the potential benefit of adopting value capture and optimising TOD planning to support sustainable urban rail transit investment. Amid rapid urbanisation in China, the evidence reported here could help better inform cities, across the developing world and beyond, of the benefits of adopting rail transit-based policy.