TY - JOUR
T1 - Valuing the Barmah-Millewa Forest and in stream river flows: A spatial heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent (SHAC) approach
AU - Tapsuwan, Sorada
AU - Polyakov, Maksym
AU - Bark, R.
AU - Nolan, M.
PY - 2015/2
Y1 - 2015/2
N2 - © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. This paper uses spatial heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent (SHAC) hedonic property price analysis of house sales during 2000-2011 to estimate the marginal value of in stream flows and proximity to an iconic freshwater ecosystem, the Barmah-Millewa Forest (BMF) in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin. We establish: (1) that proximity to the BMF is a statistically significant and positive determinant of nearby house prices in Victoria and New South Wales, i.e. for an average property worth $199,000 that is 10. km away from the BMF, moving 1. km closer will increase sales price by $2000; and (2) a non-linear relationship between in stream flow and sales price which is suggestive of homebuyer preferences for flow that is neither low (i.e. drought flows) nor high (i.e. flood flows). The results provide estimates of the benefits of in stream flow that could be used to inform freshwater ecosystem restoration policy in the basin and are suggestive of regional benefits that accrue to homeowners living near key freshwater-dependent ecosystems in the basin.
AB - © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. This paper uses spatial heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent (SHAC) hedonic property price analysis of house sales during 2000-2011 to estimate the marginal value of in stream flows and proximity to an iconic freshwater ecosystem, the Barmah-Millewa Forest (BMF) in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin. We establish: (1) that proximity to the BMF is a statistically significant and positive determinant of nearby house prices in Victoria and New South Wales, i.e. for an average property worth $199,000 that is 10. km away from the BMF, moving 1. km closer will increase sales price by $2000; and (2) a non-linear relationship between in stream flow and sales price which is suggestive of homebuyer preferences for flow that is neither low (i.e. drought flows) nor high (i.e. flood flows). The results provide estimates of the benefits of in stream flow that could be used to inform freshwater ecosystem restoration policy in the basin and are suggestive of regional benefits that accrue to homeowners living near key freshwater-dependent ecosystems in the basin.
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.12.008
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.12.008
M3 - Article
SN - 0921-8009
VL - 110
SP - 98
EP - 105
JO - Ecological Economics
JF - Ecological Economics
ER -