IntroductionEnvironmental awareness has become part of everyday life: both ordinary people and science are more sensitive to pollution. Related disciplines examine in detail the effects of different damage caused by particular pollution sources on the population, the environment and the economy. However, scientific attention has not yet turned towards the real estate sector. The effects of pollution sources on the market value of surrounding real estate have not yet been explored. Presently, no suitable set of methods is available for experts in Central Europe to obtain reliable estimates of the effects of a given pollution on real estate value. Unfortunately, land value impairment factors are excluded in environmental impact studies on the remediation of pollution sources, while, contradictory, and more often, excessive valuations are published in ensuing legal disputes.The matter is not only topical because of the enforcement of environmental awareness; not only because new developments are necessarily established in already damaged environments, but also because real estate owners have realised the negative influence of different pollution sources on its market value, and have many of them have claimed for indemnity or compensation 1 . Quantifying the amount of impairment of real estate is an important task even at the national economic level, as without such information there is no basis for making responsible decisions.International real estate practice provides numerous methods for the valuation of contaminated or impacted real estate. These methods are to be chosen and applied according to such factors as the form and site of the pollution, as well as available data and other factors. In their article, Throupe and his co-writers believe that a general real estate appraiser is a professional akin to a general medical practitioner, while ascertaining the value of contaminated property is like brain surgery (Throupe et al, 2007).1 In the newest edition of the game of Monopoly, residential houses lose their value because of poisonous land improvements built on neighbouring properties, which models the spread of the problem into public awareness.

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