Evaluation of railroad noise: The proximity to railroads and its effect on house prices

In 2017, the German federal government passed the Railroad Noise Protection Act to reduce the noise emitted by freight trains. This paper evaluates the effects of this law on house prices by using regional variation comparing affected homes close to train tracks and homes in greater distance before and after the introduction of the national strategy. The difference-in-difference framework suggests an increase in house prices by 0.5% to 2.5% for houses close to the tracks considering different time periods for the act being passed and its complete implementation. A heterogeneity analysis reveals increasing effects with reduced distance to tracks. It also shows that those with the highest general noise burden gain the most from the Railroad Noise Protection Act.