Spatial analysis of urban smart growth and its effects on housing price: The case of Isfahan, Iran

•Spatial differences of housing prices largely correspond to the classic core-periphery model.•A unit urban growth strategy can have different effects in different parts of the city.•Smart growth positively influences housing prices.•Association between smart growth & housing price is location-dependent. Because of its multifaceted approach and its emphasis on promoting healthy and sustainable development, smart growth has become one of the popular urban growth policies. The present study conceptualizes the smart growth by a set of principles – including human scale, mixed land use, compact development, environmental health, and balanced distribution of services – and examines the status and spatial variation of these principles and as well, housing attributes and socio-economic characteristics in the Isfahan metropolitan area, at neighborhood level. The association between smart growth and housing price is also investigated. The analyses are carried out by applying principal component analysis (PCA), ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and geographically weighted regression (GWR). Based on both OLS and GWR models, the overall index of urban smart growth positively influences housing prices, albeit the effect size is different in various neighborhoods of the city.