Reaction of House Prices to a New Rapid Transit Line: Chicago's Midway Line, 1983–1999

Abstract

This study examines the effect of the new rapid transit line from downtown Chicago to Midway Airport on single‐family house prices before and after the opening of the line. The results show that the housing market anticipated the opening of the line. House prices were being affected by proximity to the stations in the late 1980s and early 1990s—after the plans for the line were well known. The difference between the increase in the value of homes within the sample area as compared with properties farther away from the new transit stations was approximately $216 million between 1986 and 1999.