South Carolina Analysis

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

Recent studies in South Carolina found that local historic district status increases house values. The market recognizes the extra protection offered by local district status and rewards owners with a higher rate of return on their investments.

• In Columbia, house prices in local historic districts increased 26% per year faster than the market as a whole.
• In Beaufort, houses in the locally protected historic district sold for 21% more, all other factors being equal, than similar houses not in the district.
• In Greenville, establishing a local historic district caused prices of houses in the district to go up. House prices rose, on average, over 50% in just a few years.
• In six smaller towns and cities across the state, local historic district status was a positive factor in determining the value of a house. For example, in Georgetown, houses in the local historic district sold for 11% more than comparable non-district houses, while in Anderson, district houses sold for 36% more.

Georgia Assessment by Clarke County

http://www.accplanning.com/user_files/1168614133_EconomicBenefits.pdf

Case Studies: Analysis and Findings, generated by application of the methodology, are included in each of the case studies. The case studies draw relationships between the economics data and the communities' preservation efforts. To further illustrate the economic benefits of designating historic properties, each case study includes a profile of successful rehabilitation project within that community. These case studies and profiles show that historic preservation makes good economic sense. However, due to limited space, only one of the three case studies, Athens-Clarke County, is presented in full as part of this paper. The summary sections from Rome and Tifton, found at the end of this paper, present the information gathered in those two cities and echo the findings in Athens-Clarke County. All three demonstrate the economic benefits of historic preservation to these three communities.

Economic Analysis using comparative properties selling

http://intl-edq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/1/17

Finding an Impact of Preservation Policies: Price Effects of Historic Landmarks on Attached Homes in Chicago, 1990-1999

Douglas S. Noonan - Georgia Institute of Technology

The impact of landmark designation on prices of the property and its neighbors sits at the core of the policy debate and empirical research on historic preservation. Yet these studies suffer from serious methodological limitations and biases. First, as important unobserved characteristics likely correlate with landmark designation, an omitted-variable bias results. Second, if designations depend on property values or neighborhood housing market conditions, the endogenous selection process further undermines inferences about preservation policies' effects. This article outlines more robust empirical strategies and presents new evidence on landmark designation effects on property values. For a sample of Chicago home sales during the 1990s, a hedonic price analysis suggests that landmark buildings and districts sell at a small premium. To address the omitted-variable bias, a repeat-sales approach demonstrates significant spillover effects of landmark designation on prices. These estimates are also robust to sample-selection bias and some forms of spatial autocorrelation.