Estimating price gradient in Bratislava with different distance measurements

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the price gradient of apartments in the city of Bratislava with different measurements of travel time and distance to the city centre. Design/methodology/approach: The price gradient is analysed by means of a hedonic price model. To overcome the problem with spatial autocorrelation in the data, the authors apply a spatial error model. Findings: The paper provides empirical insights into the size of the price gradient in the city of Bratislava. In addition, it suggests that even in the case of a city with complicated urban structure, Euclidean distance is the best proxy for distance to the city centre and it is not necessary to use a more demanding distance calculation in hedonic price models. Originality/value: Price gradients are usually analysed in western European or American cities whose urban structure differ from the cities in central and eastern Europe. This paper is the first in which the price gradient is estimated with different measurements of time and distance to the city centre using a spatial econometric model.