Neighborhood Walkability Increases Home Values

I've talked before about Walk Score -- a scoring system from 0-100 that measures the "walkability" of a neighborhood from homes to places like stores, supermarkets, jobs, public transit, etc. 

According to a new study done by Portland, OR economist Joseph Cortright has noted, after measuring data from nearly 100,000 real estate transactions, has determined that in 13 of the 15 cities he studied, a neighborhood's walk score has the ability to actually increase home values.

According to the study, the home values, after taking out other factors such as size of homes, age of homes, neighborhood income levels and distance from jobs, walkability increased home values between $4,000 and $34,000 -- about 12%.

With information like this, it is no wonder that some of Kansas City's more costly, and more in-demand, neighborhoods are ones that score well in walkability scores -- places like Westport, the Plaza, Volker, Roanoke, Waldo and Brookside.

With walkability being such an in-demand thing for people moving to cities and choosing neighborhoods, it just makes sense that Kansas City would use some of its inherant walkability advantages over its suburban counterparts -- and when planning redevelopment, parking regulations, and transit, that walkability should be high on the list of factors considered in these redevelopment plans.

Comments

[d]

Yes indeed. I'm closing on a house in Volker in just a few weeks. I could not agree more regarding the walk-ability score.

[the observer]

It's the only thing I don't like about my south Kansas City 'hood. I can walk to other people's houses, a 7-11 and a couple churches. There is only the occasional sidewalk to use for these journeys. My neighbors are great. The place looks good. But it's suburban in outlook, not urban.