The Determinants of Residential Property Values: Implications for Metropolitan Planning

Abstract

To inform metropolitan land use planning, this article reviews studies that examine the determinants of residential property values. The review suggests that property values provide a sensitive index of the effects of planning and the problems planning is designed to address. Furthermore, it reveals that planning can contribute to problems of housing affordability. However, this does not represent prima facie evidence that planning has failed; nor should the potential of such effects preclude the adoption of metropolitan plans. Instead, the evidence suggests that metropolitan planning can contribute to the solution of housing affordability problems as well as to their cause.