The Cost of Convenience: Estimating the Impact of Communication Antennas on Residential Property Values

This paper applies hedonic and quasi-experimental methods to measure the value of any disamenity caused by communication antennas. We take advantage of a rich dataset of residential housing sales that contains an extensive set of structural housing characteristics and precise location information to overcome endogeneity issues caused by unobservable characteristics that are correlated with the location of a communication antenna. Spatial fixed effects are used to control for unobservable characteristics that can influence where both residents and antennas are located. Panel data techniques are used to address both time invariant and time varying unobservables and account for possible changes in the hedonic price function after construction of a nearby antenna. In contrast to estimates based on a cross-section hedonic without fixed effects, our estimates indicate that houses near communication antennas sell for less than comparable houses located farther away. The best estimates of the disamenity value associated with communication antennas imply an aggregate reduction in sales price of between $7.62 million and $14.08 million dollars for properties located within 1000 feet of a communication antenna.