Can the Extra Cost of Better Soundproofing be Offset? An Assessment for the Barcelona Housing Market

Abstract

The last decade in Spain has been characterised by the appearance of legislation that, in
both public and building terms, has been intended to improve the acoustic conditions of habitable
spaces. This policy is the response to the emergency of a culture of acoustic comfort and
acknowledgement of the harm that is caused by environmental noise. This problem is particularly
acute in the cities along the country’s Mediterranean coastline, where high demographic densities
are combined with economic activities of various kinds, with noise-related external effects. In the
building area, the CTE’s DB-HR has been used to require higher soundproofing levels, resulting in
extra production costs. This paper examines the extent to which this extra cost is offset by people’s
willingness to pay for better soundproofed housing. Thus, by using contingent valuation and a new
audio technique that has enabled those surveyed to experience first-hand the change in noise level
assessed, the challenge that is posed by valuing such an intangible public asset as silence has been
met. The results for the market for newly built multifamily housing in Barcelona suggest that
potential users are indeed prepared to pay for improved soundproofing, to the extent that the
resulting added value offsets and even exceeds the extra production cost. In short, free-housing
developers could yield higher profitability from their investments if this inclination to pay does
become a market premium, while to these private profits we might also add the social benefits of
reducing the morbidity and mortality rates caused by noise in Spain’s compact cities.