The Externality Impact of Urban Rail Transit on Urban Real Estate Prices in China

China has the largest and fastest growing urban rail transit system in the world. The system plays an important role in China's urbanization process, city governance and residents' daily commutes. The development of urban rail transit (URT) has influenced China's urban spatial structure and real estate supply, and has produced externalities on real estate value, including both positive and negative externalities. The research shows a positive correlation between URT and China’s real estate prices in general. The closer rail transit systems are, the greater the premium on real estate prices. In addition, the impact of rail transit on real estate prices shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. Different land use types and urban areas will also be affected. The research also found that the three stages of URT construction: planning, engineering construction and traffic operation have different effects on housing prices. At the same time, the impact of URT on land price will also change with China's economic situation and urbanization process. These influencing mechanisms above between URT and real estate prices may be linked to some factors. This research attempts to explain it by introducing urban spatial and land rent transformation, changes in real estate supply and demand, gentrification process, and different employment and housing pattern. This research points out the shortcomings and possible research directions of existing studies. In order to provide a reference for academic research and government policy making.