• About
  • Adam Hengels
  • Emily Hamilton
  • Michael Lewyn
  • Salim Furth
  • What Should I Read to Understand Zoning?
  • Contact

Market Urbanism

Liberalizing cities | From the bottom up

“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Economics
  • housing
  • planning
  • Zoning
  • Urban[ism] Legends
  • Book Reviews

The land price argument and why it fails

October 11, 2018 By Michael Lewyn

One common argument against all forms of infill development runs something like this: “In dense, urban areas land prices are always high, so housing prices will never be affordable absent government subsidy or extremely low demand.  Furthermore, laws that allow new housing will make land prices even higher, thus making housing more unaffordable.”

This argument seems to be based on the assumption that land prices are essentially a fixed cost: that is to say, that they can only go up, never go down.  In fact, land costs are extremely volatile.

For example, a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story showed that in Philadelphia, land costs per square foot  of vacant land fell by 46 percent over the last year.  Why?  A developer quoted in the story suggests that as supply has started to keep up with demand, rents have declined, causing land prices to decline.   In other words, when supply increases, rents go down AND so do land prices.

Tweet

Filed Under: housing

About Michael Lewyn

Michael Lewyn is a Professor at Touro Law Center, where he teaches property, land use, trusts and estates, and environmental law. Originally from Atlanta, he graduated from Wesleyan University and received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His books include "Government Intervention and Suburban Sprawl: The Case for Market Urbanism." In addition, he has published dozens of articles, most of which are available at works.bepress.com/lewyn.

Listen in

  • Abundance
  • Conversations with Tyler
  • Densely Speaking
  • Ideas of India
  • Order Without Design
  • UCLA Housing Voice
  • Yeoman

Connect With Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Market Sites Urbanists should check out

  • Arpitrage
  • Cafe Hayek
  • Center for Building in North America blog
  • Construction Physics
  • Conversable Economist
  • Environmental and Urban Economics | Matt Kahn
  • Erdmann Housing Tracker
  • Foundation for Economic Education
  • Marginal Revolution
  • Marginal Revolution University
  • Parafin
  • Propmodo
  • Rent Free
  • Time & Space
  • Urbanomics

Urbanism Sites capitalists should check out

  • Caos Planejado
  • City Density
  • Cornerstone
  • Granola Shotgun
  • Important Readings in Urbanism
  • Kartografia Ekstremalna
  • Metropolitan Abundance Project
  • Pedestrian Observations
  • Planetizen
  • Reinventing Parking
  • Skynomics Blog
  • StreetsBlog USA
  • Strong Towns
  • The Corner Side Yard | Pete Saunders
  • YIMBY Alliance

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2025 Market Urbanism