Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Belfast's iron(ic) curtain “Peace walls” and their impact on house prices in the Belfast housing market

Belfast's iron(ic) curtain “Peace walls” and their impact on house prices in the Belfast housing... Purpose – Belfast's “peace walls” exist to physically segregate and provide a measure of security to the communities on the religious divide in Northern Ireland. Whilst they do ostensibly achieve this aim, it may well be that these structures have the capacity to prevent the restoration of normal community interactions and market processes and may also be providing their benefits at a high price with regard to issues such as house price reduction. Indeed, the effect of these structures on surrounding residential property values remains somewhat of an unknown quantity. This paper therefore measures the effect of proximity to locations with social and political conflicts. The paper aims to quantify and measure the disamenity implications and costs of artificial barriers (peace walls) within the Belfast housing market. Design/methodology/approach – This paper attempts to measure the disamenity effect of peace walls on house prices, primarily focusing on the effect of distance, calculated using a hedonic pricing specification and spatially referenced data. The data are derived from 3,836 house sales transactions over a one year period in 2011. Findings – The emerging findings demonstrate that a greater negative pricing effect is evident with proximity to the peace walls, with the exception of the apartment sector. The findings also highlight the complex market pricing structure of Belfast and offer insight as how to best classify submarkets. Practical implications – The results of the research are of particular interest to property valuers and social policy makers in regions with contested space. Originality/value – Tactile barriers scar the urban terrain, formalise ethno‐segregation across Belfast and have implications for spatial planning in the urban environment and housing studies and policy. Such an externality may have a pervasive and endogenous effect on house prices and the identification of submarkets yet there is implicit acceptance of peace lines as de facto standard and a dearth of empirical evidence relating to direction and magnitude of the location‐specific effects of peace walls on house prices in Belfast. This paper is arguably the first to empirically examine the location‐specific effects of peace walls on property value across the Belfast area. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of European Real Estate Research Emerald Publishing

Belfast's iron(ic) curtain “Peace walls” and their impact on house prices in the Belfast housing market

Download PDF
26 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/belfast-s-iron-ic-curtain-peace-walls-and-their-impact-on-house-prices-rb8FAWIUX0
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1753-9269
DOI
10.1108/JERER-08-2013-0018
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – Belfast's “peace walls” exist to physically segregate and provide a measure of security to the communities on the religious divide in Northern Ireland. Whilst they do ostensibly achieve this aim, it may well be that these structures have the capacity to prevent the restoration of normal community interactions and market processes and may also be providing their benefits at a high price with regard to issues such as house price reduction. Indeed, the effect of these structures on surrounding residential property values remains somewhat of an unknown quantity. This paper therefore measures the effect of proximity to locations with social and political conflicts. The paper aims to quantify and measure the disamenity implications and costs of artificial barriers (peace walls) within the Belfast housing market. Design/methodology/approach – This paper attempts to measure the disamenity effect of peace walls on house prices, primarily focusing on the effect of distance, calculated using a hedonic pricing specification and spatially referenced data. The data are derived from 3,836 house sales transactions over a one year period in 2011. Findings – The emerging findings demonstrate that a greater negative pricing effect is evident with proximity to the peace walls, with the exception of the apartment sector. The findings also highlight the complex market pricing structure of Belfast and offer insight as how to best classify submarkets. Practical implications – The results of the research are of particular interest to property valuers and social policy makers in regions with contested space. Originality/value – Tactile barriers scar the urban terrain, formalise ethno‐segregation across Belfast and have implications for spatial planning in the urban environment and housing studies and policy. Such an externality may have a pervasive and endogenous effect on house prices and the identification of submarkets yet there is implicit acceptance of peace lines as de facto standard and a dearth of empirical evidence relating to direction and magnitude of the location‐specific effects of peace walls on house prices in Belfast. This paper is arguably the first to empirically examine the location‐specific effects of peace walls on property value across the Belfast area.

Journal

Journal of European Real Estate Research – Emerald Publishing

Published: Nov 15, 2013

Keywords: Divided societies; Hedonic pricing; House prices; Negative externalities; Segregation

References

  • Hedonic modeling, housing submarkets and residential valuation
    Adair, A.S.; Berry, J.N.; McGreal, W.S.
  • The local housing system in Craigavon N. Ireland: ethno‐religious residential segregation, social‐tenurial polarisation and sub‐markets'
    Adair, A.S.; Berry, J.N.; McGreal, W.S.; Murtag, B.; Paris, C.
  • Market segmentation and the impact of landfills on residential property values: empirical evidence from an African city
    Arimah, B.C.; Adinnu, I.F.
  • The effects of low income housing tax credit developments on neighborhoods
    Baum‐Snow, N.; Marion, J.
  • The disbenefits of neighbourhood and environment to urban property
    Berry, B.J.L.; Bednarz, R.S.
  • Estimating the peace dividend: the impact of violence on house prices in Northern Ireland
    Besley, T.; Mueller, H.
  • Social policy responses to urban violence in Northern Ireland
    Birrell, D.
  • Fear manifest: divided we fall: gated and walled communities in the US
    Blakeley, E.J.; Snyder, M.G.
  • The temporal links between conflict and economic activity
    Blomberg, S.B.; Hess, G.D.
  • Territoriality in the Shankill‐Falls divide
    Boal, F.W.
  • Encapsulation: urban dimensions of national conflict
    Boal, F.W.
  • Belfast: walls within
    Boal, F.W.
  • The impact of open spaces on property values in Portland, Oregon
    Bolitzer, B.; Netusil, N.R.
  • What's in a view?
    Bourassa, S.C.; Hoesli, M.; Sun, J.
  • Identifying the impacts of rail transit stations on residential property values
    Bowes, D.R.; Ihlanfeldt, K.R.
  • A survey of house price hedonic studies of the impact of environmental externalities
    Boyle, M.A.; Kiel, K.A.
  • A Von Thunen model of crime, casinos and property values in New Jersey
    Buck, A.J.; Deutsch, J.; Hakim, S.; Spiegel, U.
  • Living next to godliness: residential property values and churches
    Carroll, T.; Clauretie, T.; Jensen, J.
  • The economic aftermath of the 1960s riots in American cities: evidence from property values
    Collins, W.J.; Margo, R.A.
  • The effect of group homes on neighbourhood property value
    Colwell, P.F.; Dehring, C.A.; Lash, N.A.
  • The impact of a shopping centre on the value of surrounding properties
    Colwell, P.F.; Gujral, S.S.; Coley, C.
  • Demographic Trends in Northern Ireland
    Compton, P.
  • Towards Sustainable Security Interface Barriers and the Legacy of Segregation in Belfast
    CRC
  • The impact of parks on property values: a review of the empirical evidence
    Crompton, J.L.
  • The effect of health risk on housing values: evidence from a cancer cluster
    Davis, L.W.
  • Prisoners of the American Dream: Politics and Economy in the History of the US Working Class
    Davis, M.
  • Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US City
    Davis, M.
  • Dead Cities and Other Tales
    Davis, M.
  • Golf courses and residential house prices: an empirical examination
    Do, Q.A.; Grudnitski, G.
  • An empirical examination of the externalities of neighbourhood churches on housing values
    Do, Q.A.; Wilbur, R.; Short, J.
  • The Economics of Residential Location
    Evans, A.W.
  • Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland
    Feldman, A.
  • Away Up Thonder
    Foster, B.
  • Hedonic prices, property values and measuring environmental benefits: a survey of the issues
    Freeman, A.M.
  • The costs of urban property crime
    Gibbons, S.
  • The spatial proximity of metropolitan area housing submarkets
    Goodman, A.C.; Thibodeau, T.G.
  • Death by Postcode
    Hall, M.
  • Choice of functional form for hedonic price equations
    Halvorsen, R.; Pollakowski, H.O.
  • Do high voltage electric transmission lines affect property value?
    Hamilton, S.W.; Schwann, G.M.
  • Economic Theory and the Cities
    Henderson, J.
  • Long division and ethnic conflict: the experience of Belfast
    Hepburn, A.C.
  • Adjusting house prices for intra‐neighborhood traffic differences
    Hughes, W.T.; Sirmans, C.F.
  • Housing market segmentation: a review
    Islam, K.S.; Asami, Y.
  • No Longer a Problem: Sectarian Violence in Northern Ireland
    Jarman, N.
  • Recreational rioting: young people, interface areas and violence
    Jarman, N.; O'Halloran, C.
  • Measuring the value of housing quality
    Kain, J.F.; Quigley, J.M.
  • Residential property values and locational externalities
    Kauko, T.
  • Capturing housing market segmentation: an alternative approach based on neural network
    Kauko, T.; Hooimeijer, P.; Hakfoort, J.
  • The impact of toxic waste sites on housing values
    Kohlhase, J.E.
  • House building and product differentiation: a hedonic price approach
    Leishman, C.
  • Post‐apartheid transition in a small South African town: inter‐racial property transfer in Margate, KwaZulu‐Natal
    Lemon, A.; Clifford, D.
  • There goes the neighborhood? Estimates of the impact of crime risk on property values from Megan's laws
    Linden, L.; Rockoff, J.E.
  • The effect of open spaces on a home's sale price
    Lutzenhiser, M.; Netusil, N.R.
  • Peace maintenance and political messages: the significance of walls during and after the Northern Irish ‘troubles’
    McAtackney, L.
  • Market segmentation and valuing amenities with hedonic models: the case of hazardous waste sites
    Michaels, R.; Smith, V.
  • Walking with de Certeau in North Belfast: agency and resistance in a conflicted city, divided cities/contested states
    Mitchell, A.; Kelly, L.
  • A housing price model with endogenous externality location: a study of mobile home parks
    Munneke, H.J.; Slawson, C.V.
  • Desegregation and place restructuring in the New Belfast
    Murtagh, B.
  • The impact of greenways on property values; evidence from Austin, Texas
    Nicholls, S.; Crompton, J.L.
  • How has peace changed the Northern Irish economy?
    O'Hearn, D.
  • Housing economics and public policy
    O'Sullivan, T.; Gibb, K.
  • Local Housing Market Analysis and Perceptions of Local Housing Markets Within the Craigavon District Council Area,
    Paris, C.; Adair, A.; Berry, J.; McGreal, S.; Murtagh, B.; O'Hanlon, C.
  • The State of Play
    Persic, C.
  • Urban Housing Markets and Residential Location
    Pollakowski, H.O.
  • Valuation of urban amenities using a hedonic price model
    Powe, N.A.; Garrod, G.D.; Willis, K.G.
  • Hedonic prices and hedonic markets: product differentiation in pure competition
    Rosen, S.
  • Shopping centres and house values: an empirical investigation
    Rosiers, F.; Lagana, A.; Theriault, M.; Beaudoin, M.
  • Belfast – Segregation, Violence and the City
    Shirlow, P.; Murtagh, B.
  • Measuring and Visualising Labour Market and Community Segregation
    Shirlow, P.; Murtagh, B.; Mesev, V.; McMullan, A.
  • The use of census data for hedonic price estimates of open‐space amenities and land use
    Shultz, S.D.; King, D.A.
  • The value of housing characteristics: a meta‐analysis
    Sirmans, G.S.; MacDonald, L.; Macpherson, D.A.; Zietz, E.N.
  • Empirical modelling of the relative impacts of various sizes of shopping centres on the values of surrounding residential properties
    Sirpal, R.
  • Estimating the influence of transport on house prices: evidence from Hong Kong
    So, H.M.; Tse, R.Y.C.; Ganesan, S.
  • New urbanism and housing values: a disaggregate assessment
    Song, Y.; Knaap, G.J.
  • Detection and Estimation of Transportation Impact with Models of Urban Residential Property Sales Prices
    Tang, F.T.
  • The local housing submarket structure and its properties
    Tu, Y.
  • The amenity value of the urban forest: an application of the hedonic pricing method
    Tyrvainen, L.
  • The externalities of neighborhood parks: an empirical investigation
    Weicher, J.C.; Zerbst, R.H.
  • The impact of traffic noise on the values of single‐family houses
    Wilhelmsson, M.
  • An empirical study on the positive externality of building refurbishment
    Yau, Y.; Chau, K.W.; Ho, D.C.W.; Wong, S.K.