Association of property values in Lahore with walkable proximity to employment subcenters

This paper investigates whether the property values in Lahore are associated with a walkable proximity to employment subcenters. The existing regulatory framework in the city does not consider this impact. To address this gap, this study applies OLS regression to investigate the association between property values and proximity to employment subcenters while controlling for key variables known to affect property values. The study introduces a methodology to identify employment subcenters. Using a land-use-based methodology, 15 employment subcenters have been identified in Lahore. It is found that the properties within a walkable 500-metre distance of an employment subcentre are priced higher than others. However, the introduction of interaction effects highlights that this association is significantly stronger for commercial properties. Moreover, the employment subcenters in the city are categorised as commercial, industrial, and institutional. The association is found to be positively significant for proximity to commercial subcenters, while negatively significant for proximity to industrial subcenters for properties in high-repute areas. These findings offer policy implications for the primacy induced in property values due to the special development projects that potentially generate new subcenters.