Some effects of legislation on land values

Abstract

Goodall B. (1970) Some effects of legislation on land values, Reg. Studies 4, 11–23. Land values depend on public policy. The role of the market in allocating and reallocating land amongst competing uses is examined first in theoretical terms. Even in a regulated market, price or value retains an allocational function and an attempt is made to show how and why land values change as a result of alterations in the legislative framework within which the market now operates. Changes in land values follow changes in legislation because existing use and/or development prospects of land are altered. This is followed by a discussion of the probable effects of a number of legislative actions—positive and negative planning proposals, land taxation and subsidies, rent control and compulsory purchase—in order to indicate what happens to individual land values and consequently to the spatial distribution of land values and the aggregate of land values.