COVID-19 impacts on residential preferences for parks and green-blue spaces: A case study from Miami-Dade County, Florida

While the pandemic has enhanced positive perceptions of parks and green-blue spaces, there remains ongoing debate about whether this has translated into increased usage of these areas and a higher valuation of such proximities in the real estate market. Simply desiring more time in parks does not necessarily equate to a readiness to pay more for homes nearby. By analyzing housing transaction data, we investigated changes in residential preferences over a seven-year span, segmented into three phases: pre-pandemic (2015–2019), pandemic (2020−2021), and post-pandemic (2022). We focused particularly on the evolving attitudes toward parks, green-blue spaces, and their associated sports and social amenities during and after the pandemic, linking these shifts to trends in COVID-19 cases. Our findings revealed dynamic changes in homebuyer preferences toward parks, urban greenspaces, and coastal amenities. Notably, there was a decline in the willingness to pay for proximity to parks in 2021 and 2022, whereas the value assigned to homes near natural or designed walking trails significantly rose from 2020 to 2022. Coastal and beachfront properties continued to positively impact housing prices, a trend that the pandemic appears to have reinforced. These changes in preferences also showed significant geographical diversity, suggesting that the pandemic's influence on residential preferences is closely tied to local culture and urban landscapes. Our study suggests that while the pandemic may temporarily alter preferences not deeply rooted in a city's culture, only those preferences that are intrinsic to a locality are likely to persist.