How NFL Stadiums Affect Home Values

The stock market may not be the only market that National Football League stadiums affect.

An analysis found in September that home-game wins and losses increase and decrease, respectively, the stock returns of companies that sponsor NFL team stadiums.

Now, new research from real estate website Trulia suggests some “strong relationships” between NFL stadiums and the values of surrounding homes.

Trulia analyzed how being located within 2 miles of a stadium affected a home’s value. Trulia clearly states that its research did not find a conclusive link between the presence of a stadium and higher or lower values in nearby homes.

Instead, the determining factor in home values is the neighborhood surrounding the stadium rather than the stadium itself, Trulia says. The real estate website concludes:

Neighborhoods around National Football League stadiums tend to have homes that are more expensive both in sales and rental value, but new stadiums built in the last decade, by and large, have failed to lift the fortunes of homes in nearby areas.

In other words, owning a home near a stadium is nice, but if they build one down the street, don’t get your hopes up.

Nevertheless, Trulia did find what it characterizes as some “strong relationships” between stadiums and home values. These include:

• Of the 31 neighborhoods around the nation’s pro football stadiums, nearly two-thirds have higher housing values, on average, than houses in nonstadium neighborhoods.
• During the last 10 years, five new pro football stadiums have opened and none, so far, has had a noticeable impact in raising home values in its immediate vicinity (a 2-mile radius).

The stadiums whose surrounding neighborhoods have the highest home values relative to regional home values are:

1. Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia: Buyers should expect to pay 44.3 percent more for homes in a 2-mile radius of this stadium than they would for an average Philadelphia home.
2. FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland: 31.2 percent more
3. NRG Stadium, Houston: 28.8 percent more

The stadiums whose surrounding neighborhoods have the lowest home values relative to regional home values are:

1. Heinz Field, Pittsburgh: Buyers should expect to pay 18 percent less for homes in a 2-mile radius of this stadium than they would for an average Pittsburgh home.
2. CenturyLink Field, Seattle: 14.7 percent less
3. FedExField, Landover, Maryland: 11.6 percent less

What’s your take on any association between NFL stadiums and surrounding real estate markets? Share your thoughts below or on Facebook.