Proximity To Craft Breweries Good For Housing Values

Craft breweries have already been proven to revitalize forgotten urban neighborhoods and in industrial sectors, but who knew it could ‘up’ the asking price for your home?

Here’s what we know…

Researchers at the University of Toledo and North Carolina have found that living close a craft brewery is could help raise the asking price of your property.

Using Charlotte, North Carolina, as a case study, researchers focused on properties sold between 2002 and 2017 that were within a half mile buffer of a brewery and found that while many areas in close proximity to a craft brewery appear to have been associated with relatively higher price premiums even before the opening of the brewery, breweries tend to add to this premium.

This is good news for Charlotte homeowners a city that is enjoying its own craft beer boom…where 21 new craft breweries opened between 2009 and 2016 alone.

“Being able to walk to a craft brewery in the evening or late afternoon on the weekend is considered a positive amenity that would – for some people – be attractive when looking at a house,” said Dr. Neil Reid, professor of geography and planning at The University of Toledo.

The study, which is published in Growth and Change: A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy, found that city-center condominiums showed a nearly 3 percent increase, while single family homes in those same neighborhoods saw a nearly 10 percent increase after a brewery opened within a half mile.

This from Dr. Neil Reid, Professor of Geography and Planning at the University of Toledo, who also participated in the case study and is affectionately known as the Beer Professor…

“Being able to walk to a craft brewery in the evening or late afternoon on the weekend is considered a positive amenity that would—for some people—be attractive when looking at a house. There is a different attitude toward a craft brewery. It’s perceived differently than a liquor store or bar.”

“This new research shows that craft breweries contribute to increased property tax revenues for local governments, in addition to job creation and aiding neighborhood revitalization efforts.”

 “However, the effects to residential property values may not be as significant in places with higher rates of vacancies and lower population growth, as well as in more established cities such as Chicago or New York.”

According to PHYS.org, “Reid’s previous research has shown that craft breweries often tend to be located in neighborhoods that have recently experienced economic distress, and craft breweries play a key part in revitalization efforts in many urban areas by restoring old, abandoned buildings.”