Residential Market Dynamics and Micro-Scale Environmental Quality: A Hedonic Assessment in Transforming Neighborhoods

This paper analyses the links between structural, locational, and micro-scale environmental features and housing prices in two transforming neighborhoods in İzmir, Türkiye: Mansuroğlu (Bayraklı) and Kazımdirik (Bornova). Neighborhood-specific hedonic price models were applied to a dataset of 120 geolocated housing listings, allowing for a comparative assessment of price determinants under different redevelopment dynamics. Micro-scale environmental quality (MSEQ) was evaluated through expert-based street audits using Google Street View and incorporated into the models as a composite indicator reflecting pedestrian-level environmental conditions. The findings indicate that housing prices are primarily influenced by structural characteristics such as floor area, building age, and number of bathrooms, as well as locational attributes, particularly being located within a gated residential complex. These results are consistent across both neighborhood models, highlighting the dominant role of physical housing attributes and redevelopment patterns in shaping market values. Although the MSEQ coefficient is positive in both cases, it is not statistically significant at conventional levels. This suggests that, in rapidly transforming housing markets, structural and redevelopment-related factors outweigh the influence of micro-scale environmental quality in price formation. Nevertheless, the inclusion of environmental indicators provides a more comprehensive understanding of neighborhood dynamics and urban transformation processes. The findings also point to the potential indirect or context-dependent role of environmental quality, indicating the need for further research incorporating larger datasets and alternative methodological approaches.