Not every transit project has a positive effect on adjacent property values. A study finds that people do not, in fact, want to live next to Norfolk, Virginia's Tide light rail.
Norfolk's Tide light rail system isn't doing so well. Jen Kinney writes, "Despite the fact that the Tide remains one of the biggest money losers per ride in the country, operator Hampton Roads Transit has argued that at least light rail has contributed to economic development in downtown, pointing to a figure of $532 million in investment since 2011."
A recent study, however, seems to disprove that assertion. "To the lead author's surprise, they found one of the largest negative impacts of light rail on housing prices in the existing literature." "homes within 1,500 meters of a Tide station sold for approximately 8 percent less than similar homes in the Virginia Beach control group."
Kinney speculates that the Tide's failures may be due to its poor positioning. As Kate Bachelder Odell wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "The Tide moves from places you don't work to areas you don't wish to visit."
The lesson? Light rail systems should be judged on their individual merits, not lumped together for general praise or condemnation.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research