Assessing the economic premium of additional elevator: PSM hedonic analysis in Beijing, China

Although many Chinese cities have made remarkable progress in promoting age-friendly housings, few empirical studies related to the premium price of housings with additional elevators installed have been reported. In this study, we constructed propensity score matching–hedonic price models as well as quantile–hedonic models to assess the impact of adding elevators on housing prices. This study concludes: (1) The impact of additional elevators on housing prices varies depending on the floor level. (2) Single-facing and older housings are more likely to be negatively affected by the addition of elevators, and this interaction increases with floor level. (3) Adding an elevator reduces the price of low-priced housings on low floors and raises the price of high-priced housings on low floors, while for middle-floor and high-floor housings, the premium increases with the price of the housing. (4) Compared with the commercial community housings, the elevator premium of the affordable community housings is higher. Our findings provide an important reference for local governments to formulate appropriate charging and compensation mechanisms for adding elevators to multistory housings to promote retrofitting of aging communities.