Airports:

Noise vs. Proximity

Alexander KnappEcon 439

3/12/2008

Questions

Should people living near an airport be compensated for the noise generated?

If so, how much?

Reno-Tahoe Airport

1417 homes were observedNoise levels were taken in deciblesOverall quality of houses were recorded,

including selling price

Map was created:

A hedonic equation was used to calculate the new price of the house including the noise nuisance:

P = β0 + βnNoise + βDDistance +∑ β1Xi + u

Where β0 is a constant termNoise is the noise level within a certain contour Distance is valued in milesXi is all of the external variables

Results:

Conclusion:

Noise and Distance both have a negative impact on property values for the Reno-Tahoe Airport

Manchester AirportVery similar setup to the Reno-Tahoe study

568 homes observedSimilar external house variables added to

equation

Leq was used in place of overall decibelsObserves the excess noise energy made by the

airport excluding the background noise

Graphically the results look like this:

Conclusion:

Noise, like the Reno-Tahoe study, has a negative impact on property values

Proximity, however, has a positive impact on property values

What does this mean for policy makers?

Reno-Tahoe Study?Placing tougher noise policies could increase

property value

Manchester Study?Placing tougher noise policies could cause

flight delays and eventually stunt the growth of the surrounding area

Must be looked at on a case by case bases

Zurich airport to pay $160,000 USD to one homeowner19,000 more lawsuits could follow

In 2008 the Minneapolis Airport was forced to provide noise mitigation for 9,560 homes totaling $127 million

Oakland CA. the Port of Oakland agreed to insulate 200 homes if the city would drop the lawsuit preventing an airport expansion

Questions?

Espey, M., & Lopez, H. (2000). The Impact of Airport Noise and Proximity on Residential Property Values. Growth and Change , 408-419.

Tomkins, J., Topham, N., Twomey, J., & Ward, R. (1998). Noise versus Access: The Impact of an Airport in Urban Property Market. Urban Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2 , 243-258.

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/Airport_noise_test_case_wins_compensation.html?siteSect=108&sid=8793737&cKey=1204277366000&ty=st

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/airportnoise/ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040815/

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