Land Market Monitoring - What is it?

"Land Market Monitoring"is a phrase that describes the processes that can be employed by governments to monitor residential and other land uses within a jurisdiction. Done properly and updated regularly, a Land Market Monitoring system can improve planning by shedding light on the impacts of urban growth management policies, the current and future availability of development capacity, and assist in balancing residential development near centers of current or future employment.

In a Land Market Monitoring program, information on land and housing markets is regularly collected, stored in a geographic information system (GIS), and used to generate detailed and timely data on land and housing prices, developable land supplies, urban development trends, and other measurable qualities of urban environments.

Many jurisdictions have adopted urban growth boundaries or other regulatory restraints on urban development, but few conduct build-out analyses, estimate vacant land supplies, or monitor housing affordability. Such information, and more, could be readily available if local or regional governments established a Land Market Monitoring program.