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- Info
Land speculation and scattered development; failures in the urban fringe land market
| Author: |
Archer, R.W. |
| Date: |
1973 |
| Periodical: |
Urban Studies |
| Abstract: |
This note presents data from a U.S. case study which shows that landowners holding their land out of the market and receiving an increase in value averaging $129 per acre a year were generating social costs of $1,360 per acre a year which they did not pay. This case study data is then analyzed to ascertain why the land market failed to co-ordinate the conversion of rural land to urban uses in an efficient way. The analysis focuses on the roles of the landowners, the developers and the homebuyers in the land conversion process. It is concluded that the main sources of market failure were: the pricing policy of the commercial service and, public utility organizations, the apparent failure of homebuyers to correctly estimate the travel cost differentials between alternative home sites, and the market uncertainty facing landowners. The data used in this analysis has been developed from a comprehensive case study of the 200 acre Gaines subdivision near Lexington, Kentucky, made by Roy W. Bahl in 1962. All the figures cited are in U.S. dollars at 1962 price levels. |
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