August 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 21

sizes, a wide range of findings is inevitable. Nevertheless,
the empirical studies we reviewed offered some guidance.
It is widely acknowledged that views of iconic parks or
waterfronts attract large premiums. For example, premiums for apartments with a view of New York City's Central Park compared to those whose window viewshed was
directed elsewhere have been estimated to be around 40
percent, while offices with a view of the park often command 100 percent premiums. However, since these iconic
locations are atypical of most people's housing options,
they were excluded from this review, which focused on
views of relatively " ordinary " prosaic green spaces. Because they are exceptional, views from properties in tourism areas where the main attraction is the scenery were
also excluded. The review differentiated between views
from street level and those from high-rise buildings.
Street-Level View Studies - The emergence of digital elevation models that can be used with geographic
information system (GIS) land cover tools to develop
three-dimensional landscapes has facilitated the ability to do large-scale studies of the effects of streetlevel views on house prices. Results from the 17 streetlevel view studies were mixed: two reported a negative
impact; five showed no impact; two reported mixed results; and eight revealed the expected positive relationship. The premiums tended to range between 6 percent
and 8 percent. The negative impact was a counterintuitive outcome. It was reported in studies that measured
views of forests or woodlands and was attributed to the
impeding extended views.
Elevated View Studies - It is almost axiomatic to recognize that prices go up with an apartment's floor number, because apartments on higher floors have superior
landscape views, are not as exposed to noise sources and
are further away from pollution. However, an analysis of
condominium and co-op apartment sales in Manhattan
reported that height premiums were more nuanced:
Second-floor prices were 19 percent higher than firstfloor apartments where prices were lowest. There was
little change until a substantial increase for the sixth
through ninth floors. This was attributed to views on
these floors, enabling owners to clear New York's ubiquitous six-story buildings, gaze over the trees in Central
Park, or see far enough to admire the Hudson or East
Rivers. The prices increased in small increments until the
12th floor, after which they tended to level off since the
views from higher floors were often not any different from
those at the 20th floor.

Given the ubiquity of high-rise buildings in cities and
the frequency of articles in the popular press, which
feature anecdotes relating to the value of views, there
were surprisingly few scientific studies that analyzed
the value of view premium. Results from the 10 elevated view studies were mainly positive, with six of them
reporting a positive premium, two with mixed results
and two revealing a negative premium. Distant views
did not command a premium, but elevated views of
parks close to a high-rise apartment building typically
had premiums of 6 percent to 7 percent.
Assessment of the impact of parks on property
values traditionally have been measured by distance.
These results show this is an incomplete measure, since
proportion of parks and greenery in a neighborhood
and views also add value to residences.
John L. Crompton, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Professor,
Regents Professor and Presidential Professor for Teaching
Excellence in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism
Sciences at Texas A&M University and an elected Councilmember
for the City of College Station (jcrompton@tamu.edu).

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August 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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