Keeping the character
of the valley
Evaluating our community assets and their impact on our quality of life:
Private Property Analysis
Lakes, streams and open spaces
Lakes, streams and open spaces
The University of Alaska’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) posed the question: do lakes, streams and open space have a positive influence on private property values? The short answer is, as you might suspect, yes they do, and the ISER report helps us quantify our assumptions. Bodies of water had the greatest impact: the estimated change in sales value for lakeside property was an increase of 76.4%, for salmon stream frontage it was 69.8%!
On total, the appraised value of residential property and vacant private land was approximately $7 billion in 2011. This report estimates that almost 37% of the total was due to the influence of lakes, streams and open space — that makes Mat-Su lakes, streams and rivers a $2.5 billion community asset!