Quantifying the Height Premium...Just Not in DC

• April 16th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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In a recent New York Magazine piece, Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and former DC housing market guru, attempted to quantify the height premium as it relates to home prices. Specifically, just how much more are home buyers willing to spend to be on a higher floor?

Miller concentrated on a Midtown high-rise building in New York City at 301 West 57th Street. Using estimates and actual sale price data on a couple properties, Miller calculated the varying prices for units on higher and higher floors. The prices didn’t increase steadily but instead rose in jumps, with big leaps for the first floor with units that offer Central Park views and the first floors that rise above neighboring buildings.

Here’s the infographic:

With some recent murmurings that DC’s height restrictions may be loosened, we perked up when this cool analysis showed up in our mailbox. We know DC is far from having any 50-story buildings; with our short buildings and lower prices, a similar analysis in DC would be much less dramatic. But now that the potential may exist for sky-high buildings in parts of the District, maybe an analysis like this will be needed in DC…in about 50 years.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/quantifying_the_height_premium/5424.