IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v111y2025ics0166046224000930.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating the long-run effects of zoning reform on urban development

Author

Listed:
  • Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for assessing the long-run effects of zoning reform on urban development, housing supply, and dwelling prices. We begin by developing a version of the monocentric model that features regulatory restrictions on the capital intensity of housing that vary between different residential zones. A key implication of the model is that differences in land price gradients between zones reflect differences in equilibrium floorspace. This facilitates empirical estimation of the anticipated supply response to zoning reform through the measurement of changes in land price differentials after policy announcement. We use the framework to evaluate a recently implemented reform in Auckland, New Zealand, finding that changes in land price gradients in upzoned areas compared to non-upzoned areas are consistent with an approximate 23.7% increase in floorspace. Using plausible estimates of long-run house price elasticities of demand from the extant literature, this supply increase implies that dwelling prices would be 15.1 to 26.9% higher under the counterfactual of no upzoning.

Suggested Citation

  • Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan, 2025. "Evaluating the long-run effects of zoning reform on urban development," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:111:y:2025:i:c:s0166046224000930
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2024.104062
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166046224000930
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2024.104062?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Upzoning; Land use regulations; Redevelopment; Housing construction; AMM model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
    • R52 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Land Use and Other Regulations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:111:y:2025:i:c:s0166046224000930. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/regec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.