filed under: economics of trails
The results show that houses near the trail sell for a higher proportion of the asking price and in about half the time that it took for houses in the general inventory.
by Craig Della Penna, Associate Broker, The Murphys Realtors, Trailside Team
Craig Della Penna
Homes sales were examined in the seven Massachusetts towns through which the Minuteman Bikeway and Nashua River Rail Trail run. Statistics on list and selling prices and on days on the market were analyzed. The analysis shows that homes near these rail trails sold at 99.3% of the list price as compared to 98.1% of the list price for other homes sold in these towns. The most significant feature of home sales near rail trails is that these homes sold in an average of 29.3 days as compared to 50.4 days for other homes. These results are similar to those for other rail trails showing that homes near rail trails have become desirable.
There are many indications that rail trails enhance the quality of life in the communities through which they run. Homes close to rail trails have become increasingly desirable. A number of studies of existing rail trails have shown that the average value of property near the trails is similar to or slightly above the value of other properties in the area.
In 2005 the Boston Globe published a piece about this relatively new phenomenon titled "Houses Hawked on the Bikeway." Houses for sale adjacent to a rail trail are now being advertised with signage on the rail-trail side of the house. The article quoted local realtors who mentioned that posting for-sale signs along the rail trail is something they do on a regular basis now. The theme of the article was about how much a novelty it was to see real-estate signs touting the proximity of the house to the trail.
As a Realtor I know the most important things a homeowner needs to know when selling a home are what price to list it at in order to get the highest logical sale price and how many days it will take to sell the property. Our office has found that homes along rail trails sell readily. In order to quantify our experience, statistics on home sales were gleaned from the Realtor¨ database from H3-MLSPIN for seven eastern Massachusetts towns that have had several years of experience with rail trails. The Minuteman Bikeway runs through three of these towns, Arlington, Lexington and Bedford. The Nashua River Rail Trail runs through Ayer, Pepperell, Groton and Dunstable.
Home-sale data were collected for the period from 6/1/2005 to 9/30/2005. The data were divided into two sets. The first set included data for real estate listings that cited proximity to a rail trail (bike path, trail, bike trail, walkway or bikeway). The second set included the data for all other home sales in these towns.
Table 1. Home Sales near Rail Trails
| Town | No. of Prop. Sold | Avg. List Price | Average Sale Price | Ratio of Sale to List | Days on the Market |
| Arlington | 10 | $513,750 | $509,690 | 99.2% | 27.1 |
| Lexington | 10 | $906,090 | $907,040 | 100.1% | 18.5 |
| Bedford | 3 | $511,600 | $500,833 | 97.9% | 55.3 |
| Ayer | 1 | $329,900 | $317,500 | 96.2% | 47.0 |
| Groton | 2 | $689,900 | $675,000 | 97.8% | 22.0 |
| Dunstable | 1 | $695,000 | $685,000 | 98.6% | 20.0 |
| Pepperell | 3 | $385,833 | $376,333 | 97.5% | 48.3 |
| Average | $643,180 | $638,377 | 99.3% | 29.3 |
Table 2. Home Sales NOT near Rail Trails
| Town | No. of Properties Sold | Average List Price | Average Sale Price | Ratio of Sale to List | Days on the Market |
| Arlington | 119 | $558,775 | $556,327 | 99.6% | 28.3 |
| Lexington | 166 | $871,533 | $849,470 | 97.5% | 54.4 |
| Bedford | 38 | $633,912 | $624,289 | 98.5% | 42.4 |
| Ayer | 30 | $344,677 | $340,155 | 98.7% | 73.0 |
| Groton | 53 | $605,198 | $584,689 | 96.6% | 80.4 |
| Dunstable | 12 | $587,946 | $578,965 | 98.5% | 83.2 |
| Pepperell | 57 | $384,818 | $379,482 | 98.6% | 80.2 |
| Average | $645,607 | $633,072 | 98.1% | 50.4 |
The small number of homes sold near rail trails in Bedford, Ayer, Groton Dunstable and Pepperell makes the statistics in those towns less meaningful than for Arlington and Lexington. The ratio of sale price to list price favored homes near rail trails in Lexington, Groton and Pepperell. It is clear that homes near rail trails are particularly desirable in Lexington where the average sale price near rail trails was above the average list price. Averaging over all of the homes sales in the seven towns, the ratio of sale to list price favors homes near rail trails by 99.3% as compared to 98.1% for other home sales.
The most striking difference between sales near rail trails and other home sales is the time on the market. In every town except Bedford and Ayer (with small numbers of sales near rail trails), the time on the market was less for homes sold near rail trails. Here again, the desirability of homes along the Minuteman Bikeway in Lexington is reflected in the fact that such homes sold on average in only 18.5 days as compared to 54.4 days for other homes, a difference of over five weeks. For all of the towns together, the average time on the market for homes near rail trails was 29.3 days as compared to 50.4 days for other homes, a difference of three weeks.
The combined data make a strong case for the assertion that rail trails enhance the quality of life as reflected in the favorable sales statistics for homes near rail trails. The results show that the houses near the trail sell for a higher proportion of the asking price in about half the time that it took for houses in the general inventory to sell. If living near a rail trail were a negative in any way, the results would be the opposite.
Published September 2005
Craig Della Penna is the Executive Director with Norwottuck Network, an Associate Broker with The Murphys Realtors, Trailside Team, as well as the Owner of Sugar Maple Trailside Inn in Florence, MA.
For 12 years, Craig marketed rail freight and operated New England’s largest and most successful railroad-owned, transloading facility—Railroad Distribution Services, Inc. For seven years, he worked for Rails-to-Trails Conservancy as their New England Field Representative focusing on the policy end of building rail trails as well as public outreach. Today he is a successful Realtor, the fist realtor in the US specializing in the sale of property near to rail trails.
Having given well over 1,200 lectures in 21 states and Canadian provinces, Craig is one of the countries most sought after motivational speakers on the economic development, tourism, and community development aspect of rail-trails, and their leveraging small amounts of public dollars to redevelop forgotten or derelict lands into treasured places. He is also the author of five books and numerous op-ed/guest editorials on the value of smart growth development, and rail-trails. In their 10th anniversary issue, THE RIDE MAGAZINE named him as the most effective advocate for rail-to-trail conversions on the eastern seaboard. He has also written the forward to three other books on rail trails and has been featured as a case-study in five books for, creative marketing, 21st century branding, etc.
He and his wife Kathleen, operate an award-winning bed & breakfast in a restored, Civil War era house where the restoration was so extreme, it was featured on HGTV. The house sits 8 feet from one of the earliest muni-built rail trails in New England. And within 150 miles of his house sits the densest network of former steam RR corridor in the US. He also is reassembling the longest rail trail in the Northeast. The Mass Central Rail Trail, which runs 100+ miles from Boston to Northampton, Mass. This directly connects with 17 other trails over the 104+ miles. And he publishes the most widely read, free monthly eNewsletter about trails.
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