[MassHistPres] economic impact of local historic districts

Tue Dec 30 14:23:22 EST 2008

Yes, the majority of the literature describes the situations  
anecdotally and suggests that property values stay stable or  
increase. In general, however, the rigorous studies that I have seen  
confirm this pattern of rising values.

This is good news from from many points of view--e.g. for home owners  
seeking a return on their investment, and for municipalities seeking  
tax revenue--but has raised some questions in the context of  
affordable housing, infill (though mainly in more urban areas, as far  
as I can tell), or other goals whose achievement a rise in property  
values could jeopardize or at least complicate.

A few examples of detailed studies:

The NYC study of 2003 (to which you refer):  http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/

Kentucky:  http://www.martin.uky.edu/~web/programs/mpa/Capstones_2007/ 
Vogel.pdf

South Carolina: http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/propval.pdf

A study of the economic impact of preservation in general from  
Florida (http://www.law.ufl.edu/cgr/pdf/Tech-Exec-Summary.PDF; ch. 1:  
http://www.law.ufl.edu/cgr/pdf/Tech-Chapter1.PDF)

contains a lengthy bibliography with annotations of selected studies  
at the end; some touch on local districts:

http://www.law.ufl.edu/cgr/pdf/Tech-Bibliography.PDF

One study that criticizes the methods of some showing increases in  
value--but does not substantially alter the results. Preview/summary:
http://usj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/38/11/1973

There was one study that did show a price reduction on urban  
apartment buildings. Preview/summary:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/mx3733754r5766r6/
(conservative libertarians have taken to citing this as an argument  
against "hysterical preservationists"--but this seems to be precisely  
because such findings are the exception rather than the rule)

Further references from Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (in  
addition to the 2003 NYC study)

http://www.achp.gov/economic-propertyvalues.html

Various state studies (including some of the above--again, not  
concerned only with local districts), from National Conference of  
State Historic Preservation Officers

http://www.ncshpo.org/current/impact.htm

In haste during a busy week,

Jim Wald
Chair, Amherst Historical Commission

On 28 Dec 2008, at 12:00, masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu wrote:
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. R.E. values in LHDs (Dennis De Witt)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:02:39 -0500
> From: Dennis De Witt <djdewitt at rcn.com>
> Subject: [MassHistPres] R.E. values in LHDs
> To: MHC listserve <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
> Message-ID: <53B2B50A-EFA9-48A8-A096-9DCD2E46A6EA at rcn.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> I just came across a story first published in the New York Times on
> 7/8/07 about the Jackson Heights LHD in NYC ?it is the city's 88th ?
> which includes the following citation re the effect of being in an LHD
> on real estate values.  Given the scarcity of non-anecdotal numbers on
> this issue, any rigorous study (even one in NYC) is worth knowing
> about.  It's also nice that it shows an increase, but nothing
> suggestive of significantly higher taxes.
>
> A 2003 study by the city's Independent Budget Office found that market
> values of properties in historic districts are higher and appreciate
> at a slightly greater rate than those outside historic districts. For
> example, the study, which covered the years 1975 to 2002, found that
> the inflation-adjusted prices of properties within historic districts
> rose by an average of 5.3 percent a year, while those outside historic
> districts rose by an average of 4.2 percent.
>
> The article is called "Jackson Heights; Color War" ? a somewhat
> inappropriate and misleading reference to the brown (vs. green) street
> name signs used in NYC's LHDs.
>
> Dennis De Witt
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