Where Permissive Zoning Codes Slowed Rent Growth

Four U.S. jurisdictions—Minneapolis; New Rochelle, New York; Portland, Oregon; and Tysons, Virginia—helped slow rent growth by approving new zoning codes that allowed more residential development, according to a recent article by Alex Horowitz and Ryan Canavan for the Pew Research Center.

“The Pew Charitable Trusts examined the changes in these four jurisdictions because they all have received attention for revising their formerly restrictive zoning codes and allowing more housing,” according to the article. “This finding from the four jurisdictions examined supports the argument that updating zoning to allow more housing can improve affordability.”

The evidence from these four cities argues that market-rate housing development is sufficient in helping slow rent growth. “In all four places studied, the vast majority of new housing has been market rate, meaning rents are based on factors such as demand and prevailing construction and operating costs,” according to the article. “The evidence indicates that adding more housing of any kind helps slow rent growth.”

A separate study by the Urban Institute, published just a few weeks earlier, found similar results, adding fuel to the zoning reform cause in one of the most hotly debated topics in contemporary planning.

Pew used data Apartment List Rent Estimate data downloaded on March 22, 2023 to perform the analysis, which can be read in its entirety at the link below.