A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Bernaciak, Arnold; Strzelecka, Natalia Article Natural values as a factor in the location of residential investments Economic and Environmental Studies (E&ES) Provided in Cooperation with: Opole University Suggested Citation: Bernaciak, Arnold; Strzelecka, Natalia (2014) : Natural values as a factor in the location of residential investments, Economic and Environmental Studies (E&ES), ISSN 2081-8319, Opole University, Faculty of Economics, Opole, Vol. 14, Iss. 2, pp. 149-162 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/178854 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu www.ees.uni.opole.pl ISSN paper version 1642-2597 ISSN electronic version 2081-8319 Economic and Environmental Studies Vol. 14, No.2 (30/2014), 149-162, June 2014 Natural values as a factor in the location of residential investments Arnold BERNACIAK, Natalia STRZELECKA Poznań University of Economics, Poznań, Poland Abstract: The natural environment is one of the factors of development activities location. The quality and availability of natural values influences bid prices of flats. The availability of ecosystems of special qualities such as rarity and uniqueness is not a desirable feature for potential buyers. This is due to conservation restrictions, and thus the limited possibilities to use the land for recreational purposes. The most desirable category are the green areas located within the urban structure, which provide the opportunity to combine a sense of communion with nature and relatively unrestricted use of the benefits offered by ecosystems. Keywords: natural values, housing investments, Poznan agglomeration 1. Introduction The environment is one of the factors of development investment location. On one hand there are particular terrain qualities on which the investment is to be completed. The environmental parameters such as land surface, soil, geological and hydrological parameters are of importance (Budner 2003, Dąbrowski and Kirejczyk 2001). On the other hand, a completed investment attracts potential buyers with high natural values of the environment. The proximity of green space offers ample opportunities for recreation and relaxation. What is more, it also adds an aesthetic value and prestige to the location (CB Richard Ellis and Murator Expo 2012). Therefore, if the natural values of the area influence developers’ decisions on the investment location, as well as the decision of buyers to purchase real estate, the effect should show up in the price of real estate. The question arises: How natural values affect the price of the property? How do particularly high natural qualities, especially land covered by conservation forms of Correspondence Address: Arnold Bernaciak, Poznań University of Economics, Department of Spatial and Environmental Economy, Al. Niepodległości 10, 61-875 Poznań, Poland. Email: [email protected]. © 2014 Opole University Arnold BERNACIAK, Natalia STRZELECKA protection, influence the price? Do real estate market buyers prefer close proximity to lands of high natural value or rather to lands, which not necessarily are rare or unique but which provide good conditions for rest and recreation? The aim of this article is to identify the impact of specific natural values on housing prices. The authors attempt to determine what kind of natural qualities and their proximity are particularly preferred by real estate buyers and whether it is reflected in the price of the property. The research was made on Poznan real estate agglomeration market. Therefore analyses were carried out in Polish socio-economic conditions and any generalizations drawn from the reporting apply to these conditions. 2. The natural environment as a factor of development investment location Location of economic activities, including the development one, depends on many diverse in their nature factors. The natural environment is often indicated as one of them. Budner (2003: 23) distinguishes three main categories of location factors: natural, non-natural and special. The natural factors are related to environmental conditions prevailing in a given area. The non-natural factors relate to the conditions created by man, especially to infrastructure. The special factors are related to the prevailing economic and social situation. This category also includes all the institutional, political, cost, market and trade modalities. Among the factors pointed by Dabrowski and Kirejczyk (2001: 40-41) the environmental conditions can also be indicated. They belong to the so called hard factors which can be little influenced by a developer. These factors include the terrain and topographical characteristics of the soil conditions. In addition, there are also factors such as the possibility to connect to municipal infrastructure, the level of services provision, land use structure. Soft factors are the second highlighted category. The developer can influence them to only a little extent and they are most often very subjectively evaluated. To this category belong: the quality of culture, housing and leisure activities. The last category include: socio-economic factors such as: a plan of spatial development, the investment climate, the structure of government. 150 NATURAL VALUES AS A FACTOR IN THE LOCATION OF RESIDENTIAL INVESTMENTS From the point of view of buyers the location factors are slightly different. Here determinants are slightly different in nature. However, in this case the influence of the natural environment on the decision to purchase the property also reveals. A study by Richard Ellis and Murator Expo (2012) showed that for 10% of real estate buyers in Warsaw, green and recreational areas proximity is the most important factor in choosing the location of an apartment. A similar percentage of responders indicate easy car access, the status of the district, the proximity to the city center and to jobs to be the most important factor. The most important, as declared by 46% of responders factor is, however, the easy access to public transport (Figure 1). Figure 1. Factors influencing the choice of location of the apartment. Source: (CB Richard Ellis, Murator EXPO, 2012). In each of the presented typology, from both the supply and demand point of view there are natural environment factors revealed. They are of technical nature (soil and topography conditions). For the manufacturer and for the consumer they are connected to aesthetic and recreational values provided by the natural environment of the place of residence. The influence of the environment on decisions taken by both manufacturers and customers has an impact on the price. The environmental values are reflected in both the value of the land for investment, as well as in the final stage of the investment process – the price of the property. 151 Arnold BERNACIAK, Natalia STRZELECKA 3. Methodology For the purpose of the study Poznan investment lands have been categorized in terms of availability of natural values. The following two criteria have been adopted: the natural value of the particular environment element and its distance from the analyzed investments. Five categories have been distinguished as a result (Table1). The first category includes the areas located in the immediate vicinity of the lands of high natural value: Wielkopolska National Park, Puszcza Zielonka Landscape Park, Rogalin Landscape Park, the Cybina river Valley, and the Warta river Valley. The distance of not more than 1km from these regions is the necessary condition for eligibility of the particular investment in the first category. Table 1. The categorization of investment areas in relation to natural values quality and their proximity Category Features 1. Very high natural values The immediate vicinity of Wielkopolska National Park, Puszcza Zielonka Landscape Park, Rogalin Landscape Park, the Cybina river valley, the Warta river valley; the distance of these objects is not more than 1km. 2. High natural values The close proximity of Wielkopolska National Park, Puszcza Zielonka Landscape Park, Rogalin Landscape Park, the Cybina river valley, the Warta river valley; the property distance from these objects is between 1-3km and /or the immediate vicinity of other forest complex, water reservoir or other object/natural area of significant conservation or tourism and recreational value. 3. Moderate natural values The close proximity of the forest complex,