This study quantitatively examines the impact of the partial opening of Korea’s Great Train Express (GTX-A) service on the Dongtan–Suseo section (March 2024) on real apartment transaction prices in Dongtan New Town. Using apartment sales transacti...
This study quantitatively examines the impact of the partial opening of Korea’s Great Train Express (GTX-A) service on the Dongtan–Suseo section (March 2024) on real apartment transaction prices in Dongtan New Town. Using apartment sales transaction records concluded between November 2022 and August 2025, we construct a transaction-level dataset for apartment complexes located within a 4-km radius of Dongtan Station. For each transaction, the nominal price is converted into a price per square meter (m²) by dividing by the exclusive floor area and is then deflated using the Consumer Price Index (CPI; 2020=100) to obtain the real price per m². The baseline dependent variable is the natural logarithm of the real price per m². Explanatory variables include unit attributes (exclusive floor area, floor level, and elapsed years since completion), complex attributes (number of households, parking spaces per household, constructor, and heating system), and locational attributes (e.g., distances to schools and large-scale retail facilities).
Methodologically, we estimate a regression model that combines a hedonic price framework with a distance-based difference-in-differences (DID) design. Complexes within 1 km (straight-line distance) of Dongtan Station are defined as the station-area treatment group, while those located more than 1 km and up to 4 km away are defined as the non-station-area control group. Using the partial opening date as the cutoff, we set a symmetric window of 17 months before and 17 months after the opening (34 months in total) and identify the post-opening change in the station-area premium through the Treat×Post coefficient. Robustness is assessed by additionally estimating (i) a level specification with the real price per m² (in units of 10,000 KRW per m²) as the dependent variable and (ii) alternative specifications that progressively reduce the set of control variables.
Empirically, the average real price per m² for the full sample increased from 7.246 million KRW in the pre-opening period (Nov 2022–Mar 2024) to 7.871 million KRW in the post-opening period (Apr 2024–Aug 2025), indicating an overall upward price trend during the study horizon. Station-area complexes (within 1 km) exhibited a statistically significant price premium relative to non-station-area complexes (1–4 km) even before the opening, and this gap tended to widen after the partial opening. In the baseline hedonic-DID model, the interaction term (Treat×Post) is estimated at approximately 0.014 in log terms (p=0.040), implying an additional post-opening increase of about 1.4% in the real price per m² for the station-area group relative to the control group, after controlling for structural, complex, and locational attributes as well as time fixed effects and neighborhood (dong-group) fixed effects. The level specification also yields a positive DID estimate on the order of several hundred thousand KRW per m². Across multiple specifications, the sign and statistical significance of the additional station-area premium are generally preserved, although statistical significance weakens in some more parsimonious models, suggesting that the opening effect represents a modest expansion of the station-area premium within a broader price appreciation trend rather than a large discrete shock.
This study complements the existing literature on GTX and rail-opening effects by exploiting the policy event of the partial opening of the GTX-A Dongtan–Suseo section and by analyzing changes in the station-area premium within a single new town using a transaction-level hedonic-DID model that jointly accounts for distance and timing. Limitations include the restricted 17-month pre/post window, the focus on apartments within 4 km of Dongtan Station, the inability to implement a fully saturated complex-by-time fixed-effects framework in a strict sense, and the exclusive focus on sales prices. Nevertheless, by quantifying the magnitude and spatial scope of station-area effects capitalized at the partial-opening stage, this study provides empirical evidence relevant for station-area planning, development-gain recapture, and housing affordability policies in future GTX and similar metropolitan rail projects.