@article{c8d53ad991e54d21ad9c543fa20d015b,
title = "Preserving history or restricting development? The heterogeneous effects of historic districts on local housing markets in New York City",
abstract = "Since Brooklyn Heights was designated as New York City's first landmarked neighborhood in 1965, the Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated 120 historic neighborhoods in the city. This paper develops a theory in which landmarking has heterogeneous impacts across neighborhoods and exploits variation in the timing of historic district designations in New York City to identify the effects of preservation policies on residential property markets. We combine data on residential transactions during the 35-year period between 1974 and 2009 with data from the Landmarks Preservation Commission on the location of the city's historic districts and the timing of the designations. Consistent with theory, properties just outside the boundaries of districts increase in value after designation. Further, designation raises property values within historic districts, but only outside of Manhattan. As predicted, impacts are more positive in areas where the value of the option to build unrestricted is lower. Impacts also appear to be more positive in districts that are more aesthetically appealing.",
keywords = "Historic districts, Housing, Option value",
author = "Vicki Been and Ellen, {Ingrid Gould} and Michael Gedal and Edward Glaeser and McCabe, {Brian J.}",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank Gerard Torrats-Espinosa for his exceptional research assistance. We also wish to thank Sara Lense and Paul Salama for their assistance in preparing and analyzing the data, and Rohan Jolly and Clint Wallace for their research on the law of historic designation and the policy controversies that accompany designation. We are grateful for suggestions and questions we received from participants in the 2011 and 2013 fall APPAM meetings, the 2013 AREUEA meetings, and Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy brown bag lunch series. We would especially like to thank our conference discussants, Matthew Freedman and Claudia Sharygin. We are indebted to the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at NYU for supporting this research, and to the Filomen D'Agostino and Max E. Greenberg Faculty Research Fund for support of Professor Been. Note that Professor Been worked on this project before she became Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development in New York City. The views represented here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 Elsevier Inc.",
year = "2016",
month = mar,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.jue.2015.12.002",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "92",
pages = "16--30",
journal = "Journal of Urban Economics",
issn = "0094-1190",
publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",
}