Land Prices for 46 Metro Areas

The data provided here contain estimates of the average value of housing, land, and structures, and price indexes for land and housing, for the average single-family detached owner-occupied housing unit in each of 46 large metropolitan areas in the United States.  The data set is quarterly spanning the 1984:4 – 2012:3 period.

The land price and quantity data are derived from data on housing values and structures costs, and from price indexes for housing and construction costs.  For each of the included 46 metropolitan areas, house values and construction costs are derived using micro data from the Metropolitan American Housing Survey in a benchmark year.  House values are reported directly in that survey, and construction costs are based on the age and square footage of the house.  House prices are extrapolated forwards and backwards from the benchmark year using metro-area CMHPI and Case-Shiller-Weiss (when available) house price indexes. Construction costs are extrapolated forwards and backwards from the benchmark year indexes using construction cost indexes published by the R.S. Means Corporation.

MSA-level price indexes

The 46 Metropolitan Areas in the study are as follows:

For each of the metro areas in each quarter over the 1984:4 – 2012:3 period, the following data are available:

Use of data in a paper should include the following citation: Davis, Morris A. and Michael G. Palumbo, 2007, "The Price of Residential Land in Large US Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, vol. 63 (1), p. 352-384; data located at Land and Property Values in the U.S., Lincoln Institute of Land Policy http://www.lincolninst.edu/resources/