The effect of road traffic noise on house prices

Existing U.K. legislation compensates home owners for house price depreciation due to increases in environmental noise caused by public works. Several previous studies have been attempted to show the effects of noise on house prices but have been inconclusive because of a failure to meet basic requirements for a rigorous analysis. In this paper these requirements are discussed and a study designed to fulfil them based on the southern Ontario housing market is described. Data on 2277 individual housing transactions at 51 sites close to major roadways were analyzed to determine the effects of road traffic noise on house prices. Results show that noise has a significant and consistent effect equal to approximately $254 per decibel depreciation at the arterial sites examined and $312 per decibel depreciation at the expressway sites.