Introduction to the Special Issue Property Value Analysis using ZTRAX: Applications under the Approaching Sunset

Abstract

This is the Introduction for the joint special issue of Land Economics (LE) and the Journal of Housing Economics (JHE) focused on property value applications using Zillow's ZTRAX data. ZTRAX is a real estate–focused database with over 400 million public records spanning nearly all U.S. counties across more than 30 years. The spatially explicit data on deed transfers, sale prices, and property characteristics has provided the basis for analyses on themes such as disaster risks, including wildfires, flooding, and chemical accidents; natural resources, including water quality, farmland, and coal; and land uses, such as open space, national parks, and critical habitat designation, among others.