Modeling Land Value in Urban Kerala with Reference to Influencing Spatial and Non spatial Factors using GIS

Abstract

Land value is the measure of the specific features of a property excluding buildings and newlineother human-made developments. Land value varies at a micro level depending on the newlinelocation s economic, geographical, and political determinants. Kerala government uses newlinethe comparable method to estimate the value of all landed properties in the State called newline Fair value of land . The comparable method fixes the value of the land based on the sales newlineof similar properties nearby. Land registration records usually show a much lower value newlinecausing irregularities in the Fair value of land. The study proposes an alternative newlinemethodology for land valuation in the State of Kerala using Geographic Information newlineSystem (GIS) and statistical methods. The initial part of the research identifies the spatial newlineand non-spatial attributes impacting property prices in urban Kerala. The latter part newlinepresents a comprehensive assessment and modeling of the land value and its newlinedeterminants. Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city and the largest municipal corporation newlinein Kerala, is selected as the study area. newlineThe initial group of variables identified from the literature is expanded and scrutinized newlinein the Delphi survey s first cycle. The variables are grouped into five major categories newlineand thirteen subcategories based on literature and expert opinion. In the subsequent newlinestages, the shortlisted variables are rated on a seven-point Likert scale until a consensus newlineis attained. The top-ranked 35 variables are selected through the Relative Importance newlineIndex (RII) method as the critical factors influencing land value in urban Kerala. newlineHedonic Price Modeling (HPM) and Spatial regression methods are used for statistical newlinemodeling in the current study. GIS techniques are applied to integrate property values