A new study in Ohio city shows that gay couples may lift real estate prices.
Bloomberg Businessweek has the report:
A study of one Ohio city shows that same-sex couples may lift property values in neighborhoods that support gay marriage and hurt prices in ones that don’t.
While earlier research suggested that gays and lesbians can be a boon for property values by helping to gentrify neighborhoods, a finer distinction was explored by professors David Christafore of Konkuk University in Seoul and Susane Leguizamon of Tulane University in New Orleans.
The economics professors, who studied home values in 2000 in and around Columbus, Ohio, concluded that an increase in the number of same-sex couples by one in 1,000 households is associated with a 1.1 percent price premium in enclaves that backed gay marriage. The same influx in areas that didn’t support same-sex marriage was linked to a 1 percent discount.
“The perception that there is prejudice against gay and lesbians by conservative groups is strong enough to be picked up in market prices,” Leguizamon said in a telephone interview.
Read the full article via BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
