Background Reading

Anthony Downs. 2004. Growth Management and Affordable Housing: Do They Conflict? Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press

Anthony, Jerry 2004. Do State Growth Management Regulations Reduce Sprawl? Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 39, No. 3, 376-397 (2004)

Brueckner, Jan, 2007. "Government Land-Use Interventions: An Economic Analysis," [Note: A survey of the literature, including international evidence by the editor of the Journal of Urban Economics] http://www.worldbank.org/urban/symposium2007/papers/brueckner.pdf

Connerly, C. E., (2004), “Smart Growth” Opportunity or Threat for Affordable Housing?” Florida State University Working Paper, published (without tables) in Incentives, Regulations and Plans: The Role of States and Nation-states in Smart Growth Planning G. Knaap, H. A. Haccou, K. J. Clifton, J. W. Frece eds Edward Elgar Publishing (2007).

DeLisle, James R. (2003). Sustainable Growth Management: Market-Based Approach. ICSC Research Quarterly 2003.

Fischel, William. 1985. The Economics of Zoning Laws: A Property Rights Approach to American Land Use Controls. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Foster, David D. and Anita Summers. 2005. “Current State Legislative and Judicial Profiles on Land-Use Regulations in the U.S.” Wharton Real Estate Center Working Paper No. 512. Philadelphia: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Glaeser, Edward and Joseph Gyourko. 2002,“Zoning’s Steep Price,” Regulation 25(3), 2002: 24-31.

Glaeser, Edward and Joseph Gyourko. 2003. “The Impact of Building Restrictions on Housing Affordability”, FRBNY Economic Policy Review. Federal Reserve Bank of New York (June).

Glaeser, Edward, Jenny Schuetz, and Bryce Ward. 2006. “Regulation and the Rise of Housing Prices in Greater Boston.” Cambridge: Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, Harvard University and Boston: Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research.

Glaeser, Edward, Joseph Gyourko and Raven Saks. 2005. “Why Have Housing Prices Gone Up?, American Economic Review, 95(2): 329-333.

Glaeser, Edward, Joseph Gyourko and Raven Saks. 2005. “Why Is Manhattan So Expensive?  Regulation and Rise in Housing Prices”, Journal of Law and Economics, 48(2): 331-370.

Glickfeld, Madelyn and Ned Levine. 1992. Regional Growth and Local Reaction: The Enactment and Effects of Local Growth Control and Management Measures in California.  Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Gyourko, Joseph and Anita A. Summers. 2006. Residential Land Use Regulation in the Philadelphia MSA.  Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton working paper, October.

Gyourko, Joseph and Anita A. Summers. 2006. The Wharton Survey on Land Use Regulation:  Documentation and Analysis of Survey Responses.  Mimeo, Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton, September.

Ihlanfeldt, K.R., 2006. “The Effect of Land Use Regulation on Housing and Land Prices,” Journal of Urban Economics, in press.

Jud, G. Donald and Daniel T. Winkler. 2002 “The Dynamics of Metropolitan Housing Prices,” Journal of Real Estate Research, vol. 23, nos. 1/2: 29-45.

Katz, Lawrence, and Kenneth T. Rosen. 1987. "The Interjurisdictional Effects of Growth Controls on Housing Prices." Journal of Law and Economics, 30 (April): 149-60.

Knap, Gerrit. 1991. “Comment: Measuring the Effects of Growth Controls,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 10, No. 3. (Summer, 1991), pp. 469-473.

Laquatra, Joseph and Potter, Gregory. 2000. “Building a Balance: Housing Affordability and Environmental Protection in the USA,” Electronic Green Journal, 12 (Earth Day) [Reviewed as a definitive survey of over “100 studies” (http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/00/6.29.00/home_prices.html) the article actually only has 17 citations.]

Levine, Ned. 1999. “The Effects of Local Growth Controls on Regional Housing Production and Population Redistribution in California”, Urban Studies, 36(12): 2047-2068.

Linneman, Peter, Anita A. Summers, Nancy Brooks, and Henry Buist. 1990. “The State of Local Growth Management.” Wharton Real Estate Center Working Paper

Malpezzi, S. and S.K. Mayo. 1997. “Getting Housing Incentives Right: A Case Study of the Effects of Regulation, Taxes, and Subsidies on Housing Supply in Malaysia,” Land Economics 73, 372-391.

Malpezzi, Stephen. 1996. “Housing Prices, Externalities, and Regulation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas.” Journal of Housing Research, 7(2): 209-41.

Malpezzi, Stephen. 2002. “Urban Regulation, the `New Economy’ and Housing Prices” Journal of Housing Research, 13(2): 323-49.

Mayer, C.J., and T. Somerville, 2000. “Land Use Regulation and New Construction,” Regional Science and Urban Economics 30, 639-662.

Miller, Joel. 2006. “The Politics of Sky-High House Prices,” Reason July

Minford, Patrick, Michael Peel and Paul Ashton. 1987 The Housing Morass. Regulation, Immobility and Unemployment: An Economic Analysis of the Consequences of Government Regulation, with Proposals to Restore the Market in Rented Housing (London) Institute of Economic Affairs

Nelson, Arthur C., Rolf Pendall, Casey J. Dawkins, and Gerrit J. Knaap. 2004. “The Link between Growth Management and Housing Affordability: The Academic Evidence.” In Anthony Downs, ed., Growth Management and Affordable Housing: Do They Conflict? Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 117-158.

Noam, Eli.  1983. “The Interaction of Building Codes and Housing Prices”, Journal of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, 10(4): 394-403.

Pendall, Rolf, Robert Puentes, and Jonathan Martin. 2006. “From Traditional to Reformed: A Review of the Land Use Regulations in the Nation’s 50 largest Metropolitan Areas.” Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution.

Phillips, J and E. Goodstein. 2000. “Growth Management and Housing Prices: The Case of Portland, Oregon,” Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 18, No. 3, July 2000

Pollakowski, Henry O. and Susan M. Wachter. 1990. “The Effects of Land-Use Constraints on Housing Prices.” Land Economics, 66(3): 315-24.

Postrel, Virginia. (November 2007). "The tale of town town homes" Atlantic Monthly, Volume 300, No. 4.

Quigley, John and Larry Rosenthal. 2004. “The Effects of Land Regulation on the Price of Housing What Do We Know?  What Can We Learn?”, Cityscape, 8(1): 69­100.

Quigley, John M. and Steven Raphael. 2005. “Regulation and the High Cost of Housing in California.” American Economic Review, 94(2): 323-328.

Rudnianyn, Todd. 2004.  “Growth Management Controls and Housing Prices,” Wharton Research Scholars Journal

Saks, Raven. 2006. “Job Creation and Housing Construction:  Constraints on Metropolitan Area Employment Growth”, Federal Reserve Board of Governors Working Paper 2005-49.

Van Nieuwerburgh, Stijn and Pierre-Olivier Weill. 2006. “Why Has House Price Dispersion Gone Up?” NBER working paper 12538

 

Results From Comparative Studies of Land Use Restrictions and Housing Prices

 

Study Authors

 

Year

Cities/Regions

Effects

1

Anthony

2006

FL

Increase in prices attributable to statewide growth management.

2

Glaeser, Schuetz, Ward

2006

187 Communities in Eastern MA

23-36 percent increase in prices (about $156,000) due to regulations.

3

Somerville / Meyer

2006

44 Metro Areas

20% higher price elasticities and 45% lower housing starts in more regulated areas.

4

Xing et al.

2006

54 Metro Areas

Increase in prices due to growth management and development restrictiveness. Seattle: 15% increase in prices due to growth management tools

5

Chan

2004

97 Metro Areas

44.8% to -3.9% increases in price in cities with urban growth boundaries.

6

Downs

2002

86 Metro Areas

Increase in prices 1990-2000, 1990-94, 1990-96 due to Urban Growth Boundary. Not significant 1994-2000, 1996-2000, so UGB increases housing prices combined with stimulated housing demand.

7

Glaeser/Gyourko

2002

40 Metro Areas

$50-$700,000 increase in prices due to zoning restrictions. (Seattle: +$200,000)

8

Malpezzi

2002

55 Metro Areas

Increase in prices due to regulations, controlling for High Tech Locations

9

Staley/Gilroy

2001

OR, FL, WA

15% increase in prices attributed to growth management.

10

Luger/Temkin

2000

NC, NJ

$40-80,000 increase in prices of new homes due to regulations

11

Phillips et al

2000

37 Metro Areas

Increase in prices due to regulation index and weak evidence for urban growth boundary effect. But impact is low (less than $10,000 per unit).

12

Green

1999

Waukesha, WI

8% increase in prices due to zoning and permitting restrictions

13

Malpezzi, et al.

1998

55 Metro Areas

9-46% increase in prices due to regulations

14

Malpezzi

1996

60 Metro Areas

51% increase in prices due to regulations

15

Thorson

1996

10 Metro Areas

Increase in prices due to “zoning monopolies”

16

Cho/Linneman

1993

Fairfax, VA

Increase in prices due to minimum lot sizes. No increase in prices due to residential restrictions

17

Downs

1992

San Diego, CA

54% increase in prices due to growth management

18

Pollakowski/ Wachter

1990

Montgomery, MD

27% increase in prices (price elasticity: 0.275) due to regulatory restrictiveness

19

Katz/Rosen

1987/1

63 CA Metros

17-38% increase in prices due to growth management

20

Landis

1986

CA

35-45% increase in prices in growth controlled areas

21

Schwartz et al.

1986

Sacramento, Davis

9% increase in prices due to growth controls

22

Segal/ Srinivasan

1985

51 Metro Areas

20% increase in prices in growth restricted areas

Sources: Original sources, Lillydahl and Singell (1987), Pogodzinski and Sass, 1991, Ihlanfeldt (2004), Xing et al.(2006), Landis et al.(2002), and Quigley and Rosenthal (2005).  Table surveys studies that included a substantial number of cities or metropolitan areas with significant effects.


 

Empirical Studies on the Impact of Growth Regulation on Housing Prices Surveyed by Nelson et al. (2004)

Study Authors

Year

 Cities/Regions

Impact?

 Luger and Temkin

2000

 New Jersey, North Carolina  

 Yes  

 Green

1999

 Suburban Wisconsin  

 Yes  

 Porter et al.

1996

 Montgomery County, Maryland  

 Yes  

 Beaton and Pollock

1992

 Chesapeake Bay, Maryland  

 Yes  

 Downs

1992

 San Diego County  

 Yes  

 Parsons

1992

 Chesapeake Bay, Maryland  

 Yes  

 Beaton

1991

 New Jersey Pinelands  

 Yes  

 Guidry, Shilling, and Sirmans

1991

 National  

 Yes  

 Shilling

1991

 National  

 Yes  

 Dale-Johnson and Kim

1990

 California Coast  

 Yes  

 Pollakowski and Wachter

1990

 Montgomery County, Maryland  

 Yes  

 Rose

1989

 National  

 Yes  

 Chambers and Diamond

1988

 National  

 Yes  

 Nelson

1988

 Washington County, Oregon  

 Yes  

 Katz and Rosen

1987

 San Francisco Bay Area  

 Yes  

 Landis

1986

 Sacramento, Fresno, San Jose, California  

 Yes  

 Nelson

1986

 Salem, Oregon  

 Yes  

 Zorn et al.

1986

 Davis, California  

 Yes  

 Black and Hoben

1985

 National  

 Yes  

 Knaap

1985

 Portland, Oregon  

 Yes  

 Segal and Srinivasan

1985

 National  

 Yes  

 Dowall

1984

 Santa Rosa, Napa, California  

 Yes  

 Frech and Lafferty

1984

 California Coast  

 Yes  

 Dowall and Landis

1982

 San Francisco Bay Area  

 Yes  

 Mercer and Morgan

1982

 Santa Barbara County, California  

 Yes  

 Schwartz et al.

1981, 84

 Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, CA

 Yes  

 Elliot

1981

 California  

 Yes  

 Correll, Lillydahl, and Singell

1978

 Boulder, Colorado  

 Yes  

 Real Estate Research Corp

1978

 St. Louis County, Missouri  

 Yes  

 Urban Land Institute

1977

 National  

 Yes  

 Richardson

1976

 Dover Township, New Jersey  

 Yes  

 Peterson

1973

 Fairfax County, Virginia  

 Yes  

 Phillips and Goodstein

2000

 Portland, Oregon  

 No  

 Glickfield and Levine

1992

 California  

 No  

 Knaap and Nelson

1992

 Portland, Oregon  

 No  

 Landis

1992

 California  

 No  

 Downs

2002

 Portland, Oregon  

 Mixed  

 Lowry and Ferguson

1992

 Sacramento, Orlando, Nashville  

 Mixed  

 Miller

1986

 Boulder, Colorado  

 Mixed  

 Gleeson

1978

 Brooklyn Park, Minnesota  

 Mixed  

Source: Connerly (2004), see the original paper for full citations.