Broadband and Home Values: FTTH Council Study Looks at Fiber Impact

How is gigabit service like a fireplace? Both amenities can increase an average home’s value by about $5,437, according to a new report released June 30. The report, written by researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Carnegie Mellon University, was funded -- in part -- by the Fiber to the Home Council.

Single-family homes in areas where gigabit fiber service is available have a median value that is 3.1 percent higher than homes without fiber, researchers found. “When evaluated at the sample median house price of $175,000, [research suggests] that access to fiber may be associated with about a $5,437 increase in the typical home’s value,” the researchers wrote. “This is roughly equivalent to a fireplace or just under half the value of a bathroom.” Researchers based their findings on a nationwide sample of real estate transactions from 2011 to 2013 and used broadband availability information from the National Broadband Map. The study was based on data from 520,931 homes from 116,300 census block groups (CBGs) and 1,634 counties. Even where gigabit service isn’t available, home values get a lift of 1.8 percent when a local network operator has deployed fiber infrastructure capable of supporting speeds of at least 100 Mbps, researchers found.