Browsing by Author "Joro, Nita"

In Helsinki region the population growth is strong and compared to the rest of the country the apartment prices in Helsinki region are distinctly higher. Especially the prices of small apartments have risen relatively the most due to demand increase. The demand increase of small apartments can be explained by aging population, large number of young people living in Helsinki region and because living alone is becoming more popular. In addition in the past years the amount of families with children in Helsinki region has been growing which for one`s part is adding to the area’s housing shortage. The growth rate of apartment prices is separating Helsinki region from the rest of the country. There are also significant differences in the apartment prices inside the Helsinki region. Subjects of this thesis are the prices of different apartment types in Helsinki region and accessibility’s effect on these prices. In this thesis the apartment type refers to the apartments divided by number of rooms to single room apartments, two-room apartments, three-room apartments and four or more –room apartments. The target of this paper is to figure out: do more accurate accessibility variables better explain housing prices, does accessibility effect differently to different apartment types and does accessibility effect differently to apartment prices in different areas. Prices of the apartments are affected, in addition to supply and demand, by apartment’s structural attributes, environmental and locational attributes, socioeconomics attributes and by accessibility attributes. The formation of housing prices was studied by the apartments which were on sale in the Oikotie Oy`s webside during the year 2016.The study method of this paper is statistical study using hedonic regression model which includes accessibility variables. Accessibility was defined as the possibility of humans to move from the apartment to a chosen destination. Distances between the targets were measured as the crow flies and by travel time by car and by public transport. Based on the results examining the Helsinki region as a whole the more accurate accessibility variables did not improve the response value of the models. There was a noticeable difference how the accessibility affected the apartment prices when the apartments were studied by apartment types or spatially. When apartments were studied by apartment type and by spatial location, the accessibility by car and the accessibility by public transport did have different effects on apartment prices. In apartments where the number of room was small, the prices of the apartments were more affected by accessibility by public transports. As for the bigger apartments were more affected by accessibility by car. However, there were significant differences in the accessibility’s effect levels spatially. Accessibility variables did explain city central’s apartment type prices considerably less than in other areas. City central’s apartment type prices were more affected by maximizing the apartment’s area size than improving the already good accessibility. In the area of Helsinki outside the city center, apart from the single room apartments, accessibility by car explained the formulation of the apartment prices more than the accessibility by public transport. Also in Espoo, apart from the single room apartments, accessibility by car explained the formulation of the apartment prices more but compared to the area outside of Helsinki city center was this explanation level distinctly lower. As for in Vantaa the accessibility by public transport did explain the prices of all the apartment types the most.