Unequal benefits of metro station proximity

Income-level differences in housing price effects in Medellín

Bibliographic Data

ID12296293
AuthorsHernán Darío Villada-Medina (0000-0001-5482-0037, Universidad de Granada, corresponding author), Luisa Fernanda Díez-Echavarría (Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano), Luisa Díez-Echavarría (0000-0001-6022-6595)
Year2026
Volume131
Pages104571-104571
Publication date2026-01-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Transport Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-6923 • E-ISSN: 1873-1236
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2026.104571
OpenAlexW7126396084
LanguageEN
References cited35

This study examines how proximity to metro stations is associated with housing prices in Medellín, Colombia, and how this relationship varies across income groups and spatial scales. While the capitalization of transport infrastructure into real estate values is widely recognized, its social and spatial heterogeneity remains underexplored in Latin American cities. Using a dataset of georeferenced housing transactions and spatial information on urban amenities, we estimate hedonic pricing models—including Ordinary Least Squares, Spatial Autoregressive, and Spatial Error Models—with income-level interaction terms and stratified buffer thresholds optimized through an iterative procedure. The results reveal that metro accessibility is not uniformly valued across the city. In low-income districts, proximity to a metro station is associated with a price premium of approximately 9.4%, whereas in high-income neighborhoods, it corresponds to a statistically significant price penalty of 9.8%. Moreover, the spatial reach of metro influence decreases with income level, ranging from 1.7 km in low-income areas to just 0.6 km in high-income zones. Among all urban amenities considered, metro stations exhibit the most pronounced variation in market valuation across socioeconomic groups. These findings underscore the need for disaggregated, income-sensitive approaches in both spatial modeling and urban policy design. The buffer-based strategy proposed here offers a flexible and empirically grounded method to capture how accessibility is differentially perceived and valued in stratified urban contexts. In cities of the Global South—where inequality is spatially embedded—planning efforts must account for these disparities to ensure that transit investments promote inclusive urban development

Capitalization · Downtown · Hedonic Pricing · Metropolitan area · Public transport · Real estate · Residential real estate · Socioeconomic status · Urban sprawl · Valuation (finance · Housing Market and Economics · Urban Design and Spatial Analysis · Urban Transport and Accessibility