Forgetting the flood? An analysis of the flood risk discount over time

A Atreya, S Ferreira, W Kriesel - Land Economics, 2013 - le.uwpress.org
A Atreya, S Ferreira, W Kriesel
Land Economics, 2013le.uwpress.org
We examine whether property price differentials reflecting flood risk increase following a
large flood event, and whether this change is temporary or permanent. We use single-family
residential property sales in Dougherty County, Georgia, between 1985 and 2004 in a
difference-in-differences spatial hedonic model framework. After the 1994 “flood of the
century,” prices of properties in the 100-year floodplain fell significantly. This effect was,
however, short-lived. In spatial hedonic models that explicitly incorporate both linear and …
We examine whether property price differentials reflecting flood risk increase following a large flood event, and whether this change is temporary or permanent. We use single-family residential property sales in Dougherty County, Georgia, between 1985 and 2004 in a difference-in-differences spatial hedonic model framework. After the 1994 “flood of the century,” prices of properties in the 100-year floodplain fell significantly. This effect was, however, short-lived. In spatial hedonic models that explicitly incorporate both linear and nonlinear temporal flood-zone effects, we show that the flood risk discount disappeared between four and nine years after the flood, depending upon the specification. (JEL Q51, Q54)
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