A new study in Urban Affairs Review, “Upzoning Chicago: Impacts of a Zoning Reform on Property Values and Housing Construction,” has kicked off the latest round of takes, both sanctimonious and sincere, in the urban planning world—particularly the part of it that hangs out on Twitter to discuss the intricacies of supply and demand in urban markets.
Does upzoning (i.e., changing zoning to allow for more intensive land use) increase density, thereby decreasing housing costs? Decreases in market-rate rents in cities like Washington, D.C., and Seattle have been attributed to an increase in supply, which can be induced by upzoning. However, the new paper’s author, Yonah Freemark, finds that after five years of upzoning allowances in certain areas of Chicago, property values have risen without significant additional development.
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