The Effects of Conservation Easements on Real Estate Prices and Development
Presented by:
Garrett Shost
Practice Job Talk
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wednesday, October 1, 2025
12:00 pm-1:30 pm
Taylor-Hibbard Seminar Room (Rm103)
Conservation easements are a commonly used tool to permanently conserve land with environmental and social importance. While they have the ability to provide local amenity value to nearby properties, conservation easements exist in perpetuity which ensures they will never be developed, potentially exacerbating housing shortages. I examine the effect of conservation easements on nearby properties using a nationwide dataset of over 34 million repeat sales of residential properties across 30 years. I find that conservation easements increase nearby property values on average between 0.35 and 1.32 percent. Homeowners particularly value easements for recreation purposes and those held by government agencies. I also find that at the county level, conservation easements have a small but significant effect in reducing new development, which is more pronounced in counties that are more developed. These results illustrate the value provided by permanent land conservation but also the role that land use restrictions play in local development.