The Price of Elevation: Market and Institutional Responses to Elevation-Based Flood-Risk Reduction

This study examines how elevation influences housing market outcomes and property tax assessments in a coastal flood-prone neighborhood, using Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida, as the study area. Mobile LiDAR was used to accurately measure first-floor elevation (FFE). Three elevation measures, ground elevation (GE), relative first-floor height (RFFH), and FFE, were analyzed in relation to housing sale prices and assessed property values to evaluate whether these resilience-related features are incorporated into property valuation. Hedonic model results show that GE, RFFH, and FFE each have statistically significant positive effects on housing sale prices, indicating that buyers value elevation as a means of reducing flood risk and are willing to pay premiums for higher elevations. In contrast, elevation measures show substantially weaker relationships with assessed property values, with only marginal evidence that FFE is reflected in assessments, suggesting that assessment practices do not adequately incorporate elevation-based resilience features. These findings reveal a divergence between market and institutional valuations, where elevation is strongly reflected in housing prices but only weakly incorporated into property tax assessments, raising potential equity implications. By examining GE, RFFH, and FFE as measures of flood mitigation and resilience, this study contributes to the literature on flood risk, housing markets, and climate adaptation by demonstrating how elevation-based resilience is economically valued yet institutionally underrecognized.