The Effects of Concentrated LIHTC Development on Surrounding House Prices

Abstract

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit is the largest supply-side housing subsidy in the United States, costing over $8 billion per year. LIHTC properties tend to be concentrated in low-income urban communities. Numerous studies have examined the spillover effects of these properties but have not accounted for their clustering or teased out the effects of introducing additional LIHTC developments to neighborhoods. We combine an interrupted time series model with a difference-in-difference approach to estimate the additive property value effects in Chicago and surrounding Cook County, Illinois. The development of subsequent LIHTC properties within a neighborhood augments the positive effects of the initial property as far as half a mile away, in both low-income and higher-income areas. The effects are most pronounced in neighborhoods with low median incomes.