Value of urban views in a bay city: Hedonic analysis with the spatial multilevel additive regression (SMAR) model

This paper attempts to assess the value of urban views in a bay city (Yokohama), Japan. Firstly, three types of views, open view (goodness of visibility), green view (visibility of open space), and ocean view (visibility of ocean), were quantified employing the viewshed analysis implemented on the GIS with airborne LiDAR data and 0.5 m × 0.5 m high resolution aerial photos. Secondly, hedonic analyses were conducted to test the capitalization of value of those views into condominium prices using the spatial multilevel additive regression (SMAR) model, where possible non-linearity, multilevel structure of condominiums (unit-building), and spatial dependence were considered. This study implies that “very nice” open view (in terms of the amount of visibility) and ocean view may have a positive premium, whereas “slightly nice” open and ocean views may not. Also, a “moderate amount” of green view may raise condominium prices, but “poor” and “too much” green view may reduce condominium prices. These results indicate that the effects of views are indeed non-linear, and therefore it may be misleading to interpret the results obtained by linear models as existing studies have done.