The main objective of this study is to empirically analyze the impact of the opening of the Hanam Line, an extension of Seoul Subway Line 5 into Hanam City, on nearby apartment prices. In particular, the study aims to examine how the same transportati...
The main objective of this study is to empirically analyze the impact of the opening of the Hanam Line, an extension of Seoul Subway Line 5 into Hanam City, on nearby apartment prices. In particular, the study aims to examine how the same transportation infrastructure affects the housing market differently depending on the urban context, by comparing two areas within Hanam City that have distinct urban structures: the new town-type residential development district (Misa Station) and the existing old downtown area (Hanam City Hall Station).
The difference between this study and previous studies is that while prior research mainly focused on a single area or the average effect of subway openings, this study attempts a more refined analysis by including heterogeneous responses according to region type and price-tier-specific housing price reactions.
This study utilizes actual transaction data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, collecting apartment transaction data over a total of two years—one year before and one year after the subway opening. The analysis sets independent variables including building and complex characteristics (parking ratio, building age, builder reputation) and locational characteristics (walking time to subway stations, large supermarkets, and elementary schools), and applies a hedonic price model based on multiple regression. In addition, to measure the effect of policy projects or large-scale development projects such as subway openings, the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method is used, and the interaction effect of the cross-variable representing the pure effect of subway opening multiplied by the number of available metropolitan bus routes is also analyzed. Furthermore, because housing prices have heterogeneous characteristics that are difficult to explain with average values alone, the study applies a Quantile Regression model to examine how the effect of subway openings varies across different price quantiles.
The main findings show that after the subway opening, apartment prices within station areas in the new town increased more significantly than those in non-station areas, especially compared to the old downtown. In the new town, where there are diverse transportation options, the subway and metropolitan buses exhibited a substitutive relationship, whereas this was relatively not the case in the old downtown. Also, builder reputation was significant in the new town but not in the old downtown. This is believed to be because many of the apartments with large price increases in the old downtown were not built by top-tier builders. Lastly, in both the new town and the old downtown, the substitutive relationship between subway and metropolitan buses appeared stronger in lower-priced housing than in higher-priced housing. This is interpreted as due to the fact that, as the distance from subway stations increases, the housing tends to be lower-priced and subway accessibility declines, which increases the demand for metropolitan or local (feeder) buses.
Through this study, it is emphasized that the impact of subway openings on the housing market can vary depending on physical and locational characteristics, as well as the relationship with other transportation modes. Therefore, it is necessary for local governments to pursue regionally tailored and comprehensive approaches, rather than uniform public transportation policies. Moreover, housing price increases were more significant in the year after the subway opening compared to the year before, implying that from the perspective of housing demand, thorough analysis and consideration of real estate transactions are required at an early stage prior to the subway opening, rather than waiting until just before or after the opening.