When Walmart comes to town: Always low housing prices? Always?

Walmart often faces strong local opposition when trying to build a new store. One common complaint is that Walmart lowers nearby housing prices. In this study we use over one million housing transactions located near 159 Walmarts that opened between 2000 and 2006 to test if the opening of a Walmart...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of urban economics 2015-05, Vol.87, p.1-13
Main Authors: Pope, Devin G., Pope, Jaren C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Discount department stores
Economic analysis
Effects
Estimation
Facilities planning
Housing
Housing market
Housing prices
Influence
Location of industry
Prices
Real estate
Retailing industry
Studies
Transaction costs
Urban economics
Walmart
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Summary:Walmart often faces strong local opposition when trying to build a new store. One common complaint is that Walmart lowers nearby housing prices. In this study we use over one million housing transactions located near 159 Walmarts that opened between 2000 and 2006 to test if the opening of a Walmart lowers housing prices. Using a difference-in-differences specification, our estimates suggest that a new Walmart store actually increases housing prices by between 2% and 3% for houses located within 0.5 miles of the store and by 1–2% for houses located between 0.5 and 1 mile.
ISSN:0094-1190
1095-9068
DOI:10.1016/j.jue.2014.10.004