Built heritage in Australia A review of domestic literature

As Rypkema states: ëOf all the economic issues of historic preservation, none is subject to so many opinions based on so few facts as the impact on property value of being included in a historic district.í In response to this concern, this paper reports its survey of relevant core literature, the purpose of which is to inform a subsequent empirical study investigating in detail the impact of statutory listing on the value of affected residential property in the local government area of Fremantle in Western Australia. This paper concentrates on Australian authored sources with the international coverage reported in a separate paper (Armitage and Irons 2011, forthcoming) and draws principally upon more recent academic research and research conducted within Australia. The study finds that very few Australian studies exist in this field and whilst the review centres on academic research, given the paucity of domestic literature, the net has been widened to include several studies undertaken or commissioned by government. In addition, the paper indicates that attention is almost exclusively accorded to research relating to single-unit residential dwellings although some authoritative works were found to be focussed on listing impacts on multi-unit residential property and commercial property impacts are noted in context. The central studies addressing the issue of heritage listing pricing affects are detailed and their findings summarised. The examination highlights the methodologies employed, discusses key findings and concludes with a critique of the extant research. Whilst an extensive review has been undertaken, it is neither intended nor designed to be exhaustive but to target the core literature and provide access to the extensive bibliography of the parent study (Irons 2009) to inform those with a more detailed interest in the topic. The research is conducted under the extensive and diverse body of ëtreatment evaluation literatureí. This umbrella grouping finds wide application within a range of discipline areas which, broadly speaking, encompasses all works that focus on assessing the effect of an exposure or treatment on the outcome of interest (Fu, Dow & Liu 2007). Treatment evaluation research is typically employed when observations are not randomly assigned to treatment and control groups (Waldfogel 1999) ñ which is certainly the case when examining the effect of heritage status on property prices ñ as the primary criterion for listing is demonstrated heritage significance. Listing status provides, in essence, a ënatural experimentí in which the effect of the heritage listing can be compared for treatment (listed) and control (non-listed) groups.