Amenities and the attraction of Dutch cities

Amenities and the attraction of Dutch cities. Regional Studies. Research on the relevance of amenities for urban wages, jobs or housing prices has mainly focused on the case of US cities. In many (European) countries, the labour and housing markets function, however, rather differently than in the case of the United States. As a result, amenities may affect urban labour or housing markets differently. In addition, in European countries the proximity of cities is such that spatial interdependencies between cities have to be taken into account as well. By using a very rich dataset, this paper analyses the relationship between urban amenities, agglomeration and housing prices for the case of a highly urbanized European country, the Netherlands. It finds that Dutch cities that combine a favourable job location with a variety of urban amenities have significantly higher housing prices. Relatively safe cities, offering a variety of history and cultural events, as well as good restaurants, also have significantly higher housing prices.