Transport Accessibility in a Suburban Zone and Its Influence on the Local Real Estate Market: A Case Study of the Olsztyn Functional Urban Area (Poland)

The development of real estate markets in the vicinity of cities is linked with suburbanization processes. The migration of the population to suburban areas contributes to the growth of the residential property market (houses, apartments and construction plots). To minimize commuting costs, property buyers opt for locations that are situated close to the urban core. This article analyzes construction plots on the local real estate market in the Olsztyn Functional Urban Area, in terms of their temporal accessibility and demographic changes. Spatial variations in population distribution were analyzed with the use of the Gini index and geostatistical interpolation techniques. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the relationships between the analyzed variables. The study revealed differences in the spatial distribution of the population and real estate transactions as well as strong correlations between average transaction price, number of transactions, commuting time and population. The highest number of transactions were observed in cadastral districts situated in the direct vicinity of Olsztyn’s administrative boundaries and the major transportation routes due to their high temporal accessibility.