COVID-19 moderates the association between to-metro and by-metro accessibility and house prices

Previous studies extensively examined the role of accessibility to metro in shaping house prices but largely overlooked the contribution of accessibility by metro. In addition, limited studies examined the moderating effect of COVID-19 on the price effects of to-metro and by-metro accessibility. Based on multilevel hedonic price and quantile regression models, this study scrutinizes the association between to-metro accessibility, by-metro accessibility, and house prices in Chengdu, China, and examines the moderating role of COVID-19 in this association. We show that by-metro accessibility significantly influences house prices. COVID-19 significantly influences the value of to-metro accessibility but marginally affects that of by-metro accessibility. The value of to-metro accessibility is disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Specifically, small or low-priced houses are less affected than big or high-priced houses. In other words, the flattening of the to-metro price gradient is more discernible for big or high-priced houses. The changing preference of residents has also been verified by the decreases in house transaction volume in metro-adjacent areas.