Residential Redevelopment and Land-Value Spillovers in East Vancouver

Abstract

Vancouver has long been labelled as one of the most expensive housing markets in the world. With increased policies encouraging more redevelopment, this paper seeks to figure out whether new construction changes the land values of nearby land. The study relies on tax roll data, building permits, and parcel boundaries to examine the effect across four East Vancouver neighbourhoods. Parcels are regressed on redevelopment. Exposure to new builds is measured in narrow distance bands around each parcel and separated by construction type. A fixed-effects model is used to track each parcel's history over time, comparing exposed parcels to those not yet exposed as a control group. The results indicate that a first nearby build is associated with a small amount of extra annual growth in land values of adjacent land, suggesting redevelopment raises property values rather than easing affordability. Since nearby construction raises surrounding land values, existing landowners capture those gains rather than housing becoming more affordable.