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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 24, 2007 Ohio Sea Grant researchers Drs. Elena Irwin and Tim Haab
have discovered that cleaner shoreline water can bring higher returns when
selling a waterfront property on Like much of the waterfront property around the country, the
demand for shoreline property bordering Lake Erie’s eight Irwin looked at whether environmental amenities like clear
lake water and nearby beaches could have contributed to those rising housing
prices. “People view houses not as one good, but as a bundle
of goods—house size, number of bathrooms, school district, and proximity
to retail are a few of the factors that potential buyers evaluate when
purchasing a home,” explains Irwin, Associate Professor at The Ohio State
University’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development
Economics. “We wanted to add an environmental variable like water quality
as one of those goods and compare it with the more traditional home
amenities.” To do this, Irwin and Haab worked with graduate student
Shihomi Ara to collect historical housing information from four
predominantly-residential Lake counties, as well as data on the water quality
associated with Their research found that when Average waterfront properties also increased the closer they
were to beaches. A house’s value rose by nearly $12,000 (or the resale
value of adding a fireplace) when that waterfront home was within 10 miles of a
“This research shows that there is a direct link
to environmental amenities and increased economic value—if we increase
the For more about this Ohio Sea Grant funded research, go to
Twine Line’s research feature at http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/twineline/v28i4.pdf
For more information about this Ohio Sea Grant funded
project: contact Dr. Elena Irwin, 614.292.6449 Or Jill Jentes Banicki, 614.292.8949 jentes.1@osu.edu |