The role of demand in land re-development

Vacant, previously-developed land in cities can generate negative externalities on surrounding areas, and is often the target of policies to promote re-development. This paper provides estimates of the price sensitivity of land re-development, a crucial parameter for the success of these policies. My estimates measure how prices affect long-run conversion of unused or underused previously developed land in England. The empirical strategy uses school test scores and admission district boundaries in a boundary discontinuity design to generate variation in housing demand that is orthogonal to re-development costs. Results show that the probability of re-development is effectively sensitive to housing prices. Estimates indicate that a 1% increase in prices leads to a 0.07 percentage point reduction in the fraction of hectares containing brownfield land. Price differences or substantial subsidies could lead to a significant amount of re-development in the long run. This is confirmed by observed land use changes between 2007 and 2011 being disproportionately concentrated in high price areas.