The East Side Access Project will likely increase nearby home values by an average of $7,300

East Side Access construction

The Regional Plan Association reports that the East Side Access (ESA) project means good news for homeowners nearby – the Association concludes via a study that the 587,000 households in both Queens (191,000 in eastern Queens) and Long Island (314,000 in Nassau County and 82,500 in western Suffolk County) will see their home values increase by an average of $7,300 because of the construction of the ESA. The cumulative increase is $4.7 billion.

Along with rising home values, additional economic benefits could become a reality because of the ESA. Development around the stations could encourage job growth all areas involved with new development (the architects, designers, construction, and jobs connected with a completed project). This could then further increase home and property values nearby. Commercial real estate values in Manhattan will also benefit from the easier access employees have to the city.

In 2010, the RPA published a report called The ARC Effect: How better transit boosts home values & local economies, where they looked at the economic impact when commute times were reduced between NJ and Manhattan, and the increase in value of residential property within two miles of stations in NJ. The RPA applied this methodology to communities east of Manhattan and came up with this:

More specifically, it concluded that for every minute that travel time to Manhattan was reduced, the value of homes increased by an average of $1,959, with higher increases for homes nearer to the stations, as shown below.

• Homes within one-half mile: $2,902
• Homes one-half to one mile: $1,931
• Homes one to one-and-a-half mile: $1,310
• Homes one-and-a-half to two miles: $882
• All homes within two miles: $1,959

This analysis of East Side Access applied these per-minute values to homes in Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties, based on the likely time savings to be brought about by ESA.

They did recognize that NJ and Queens/LI might be a bit different, so they considered these factors:

• Home values in Queens and on Long Island compared with Northern New Jersey
• The correlation between home values and increases in home values in Northern New Jersey
• The share of residents who live within two miles of train stations in Queens and on Long Island compared to Northern New Jersey
• The share of Queens and Long Island residents who work in Manhattan compared to the share of Northern New Jersey residents who work in Manhattan
• The share of NJ Transit and LIRR commuters who work in different parts of Manhattan

They then concluded that “the differences east and west of New York City were not sufficient to justify adjusting the $2,959 per-minute value experienced in Northern New Jersey.”

The ESA will bring a new LIRR station to Sunnyside, though it wasn’t included in the study, since the RPA believes commuters that live near a subway station will take the subway over the LIRR.

LIRR Grand Central Link to Boost Home Values [Regional Plan Association]
Rail Rewards – How LIRR’s Grand Central Connection Will Boost Home Values [Regional Plan Association]
The ARC Effect: How better transit boosts home values & local economies [Regional Plan Association]
Sunnyside meets Manhattan – East Side Access tunnel complete [QNYC]