ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

Rail transit integration and land prices: Evidence from inter- and intra-city networks in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Not scheduled

20m

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

Oral Track 03 | MOBILITY

Speaker

Meiyu Zhang (CAUP, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China)

Description

Over the past decades, China's rail transit systems have undergone rapid development, emerging as one of the largest networks globally in terms of operational length for both inter- and intra-city rail systems. In recent years, China has implemented policies to enhance the integration of different types of rail transit, including high-speed railway (HSR), conventional railway, inter-city railway, suburban railway, and urban rail transit.
Rail transit, as a critical component of transportation infrastructure, enhances accessibility and fosters the development of surrounding areas. While most existing studies focus on the impact of a single type of rail transit developments—such as the opening of a high-speed railway line or the expansion of urban rail transit networks—less attention has been paid to the benefits of integrating different rail transit modes. For examples, Chang and Diao (2021) found that the opening of a new HSR line can increase the housing prices around metro stations connecting to the HSR station, while Liu et al. (2024) showed that connection to metro lines can promote the development of HSR station new towns. However, despite these findings, limited research has explored the causal impacts of rail transit integration on land prices, particularly from a regional perspective.
To fill this research gap, we assess the impact of rail transit integration on land value, using the inter- and intra-city rail networks in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China, as a case study. Our analysis focuses on a sample of 112 inter-city rail stations, including HSR stations, conventional railway stations, and inter-city railway stations, which were not connected to intra-city urban rail transit before 2014. We compile data on station characteristics, including station opening time, urban rail transit connection time, and station size, from the Baike (https://baike.baidu.com/), and collect land transaction information within a 5-km radius of these stations from 2014 to 2023 from the official website of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources (https://www.landchina.com/).
Using a difference-in-differences modelling framework, we find that on average, integration with the intra-city urban rail transit has led to a 13.4% increase in land prices within the 5-km buffer of inter-city rail stations with urban rail transit connection relative to those without such connections. The integration effect varies by land use type with the residential land parcels experiencing a larger price appreciation than commercial land parcels after the integration. Spatially, the interaction effect also exhibits heterogeneity, with the highest appreciating rate observed in the 1.5-2.5 km buffer zone around rail stations.
This study offers a new perspective on the capitalization effect of rail transit development by focusing on network integration. The findings can provide useful insights to support the sustainable development of areas around rail transit stations.

References

Chang, Z. and Diao, M. (2021) ‘Inter-city transport infrastructure and intra-city Housing Markets: Estimating the redistribution effect of high-speed rail in Shenzhen, China’, Urban Studies, 59(4), pp. 870–889. doi:10.1177/00420980211017811.
Liu, Y. et al. (2024) ‘What matters in promoting new town by high-speed railway station? evidence from China’, Transport Policy, 159, pp. 241–253. doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2024.10.022.