The Value of Remoteness: a Hedonic Estimation of Ranchette Prices

Throughout the western United States, production ranches are being subdivided into recreation-oriented “ranchettes”. This change has dramatic impacts on local environmental and economic viability. Ranchettes fall in a gap in the economic literature between production agriculture and residential uses. This paper presents the first hedonic model for ranchettes, introducing the use of remote sensing vegetative indices and the use of sale status of adjacent ranchettes as explanatory variables. Parcel level sale data in Yavapai County, Arizona is combined with satellite greenness indices. It is found that increased greenness raises sale prices. Access to roads, cities, and neighbors also increase sale prices, implying that isolation is a disamenity and that it may be beneficial for policymakers to encourage ranchette grouping.