Contrasting Effects of Air Pollution Assessment in two Areas of the Quito Metropolitan District, Ecuador

One of the main factors of air contamination within urban areas is burning gasoline by cars, light trucks and motorcycles. Gasoline burning liberates pollution gases such as Nitrogen dioxide, Sulfur dioxide, Carbon monoxide, benzene, besides others. Among these, Nitrogen dioxide (NOx) is the one that stands out for the people’s awareness of such contamination. We used the Hedonic Price Method (HPM) in order to determine people’s perception of air quality as a proxy and estimate the effect of gases on the housing market. We selected two areas of Quito Metropolitan District in order to evaluate contamination effects on properties. One with a higher concentration of gases located within the historic district of Quito. The other with better air quality called the Bellavista district. The results of three different models indicated that a reduction of 1 (µg/m3) of NOx would increase an average of 4.54% of the housing market value, which it represents 2,032,326.24 USD in value for sample properties. A decrease of 5 µg/m3 will increase in 22.7% of properties value.