Economic Benefits of Historic Districts
Increased Property Values
A vast majority of recent studies show that property values tend to rise within historic districts when compared to similar non-designated neighborhoods. For example, a study from Raleigh, N.C., shows that between 2000-2008, single-family residential properties in three local historic districts increased in value between 84 percent and 111 percent, while in the rest of the city their value increased only 49 percent on a per-square-foot basis.
(Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, https://forum.savingplaces.org/learn/fundamentals/economics)
Recent Reports on How Residential Historic Districts Improve Property Values
“Designing a 21st-Century City: Historic Preservation and the Raleigh of Tomorrow” (2014)
By Raleigh Historic Development Commission and PlaceEconomics
http://www.placeeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/raleigh-citywide-2014.pdf (Print pages 28-32)
“The Impact of Historic Districts on Residential Property Values” (2003)
By the New York City Independent Budget Office
https://ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/HistoricDistricts03.pdf
“Measuring Economic Impacts of Historic Preservation” (2011, rev. 2013)
By PlaceEconomics (Donovan Rypkema, Caroline Cheong and Randall Mason) for the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation:
https://www.achp.gov/sites/default/files/guidance/2018-06/Economic%20Impacts%20v5-FINAL.pdf (Pages 21-25)
Possible Tax Credits
Homes in historic districts would be eligible for state income tax credits for qualified renovation if the Historic Property Reinvestment Act is passed in New Jersey. The tax credit is currently being considered by the State Legislature.