Billboards Decrease the Value of Nearby Property

A new report focusing on the City of Philadelphia found that there is a statistically significant correlation between real estate value (as measured by sales price) and proximity to billboards.

1 minute read

December 22, 2011, 8:00 AM PST

By Tim Halbur


Urban planner Jonathan Snyder, author of the study, found that "[u]sing 2010 sale price data, and taking into account adjacent amenities such as libraries and parks, residential real estate within 500 feet of a billboard is $30,826 less valuable (p=.035) at the time of purchase."

Furthermore, "Billboards negatively impact home values. For each additional billboard in a census tract, there is a $947 decrease in home value."

Scenic America notes that the report concludes "...that cities with stricter billboard controls have greater median incomes, lower poverty rates and lower home vacancy rates than city with less strict billboard controls."

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 in Scenic America

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