Retail accessibility and proximity effects on housing prices in Seoul, Korea: A retail type and housing submarket approach

The debate over retail and urban economics, mixed land use policy, and retail deserts has increased attention on relationships between retail locations, accessibility, and housing prices. Most hedonic price models focus on effects of aggregate retail accessibility on residential property prices without considering retail types and submarkets. This study investigates spatial accessibility by retail type in housing submarkets in the context of 2010 condominium prices in Seoul, Korea. The model employs gravity-based accessibility and isolates differential effects of accessibility by retail type in submarkets on housing prices by controlling for housing attributes, location and transportation characteristics, and features of neighborhood land use. According to the results, the effect of accessibility by retail type varied across housing submarkets. The analysis highlights the importance of investigating accessibility effects by retail type at the housing submarket level. The results suggest that policies on mixed land use should take into account local contexts and complex relationships between retail type and housing prices within housing submarkets.