Country Grammar: The Value of a Poshly Named Street

A study published in the October issue of the Journal of Real Estate Research looks at the impact of street and subdivision names on residential values. University of Georgia professors Velma Zahirovic-Herbert and Swarn Chatterjee focused on streets and subdivisions in Baton Rouge, La., from October 1984 to April 2005 and found that streets containing the word “country” boosted home values by 4.2 percent and the words “country club” added a total of 9.3 percent. They wrote, “The reason is that it captures the prestige associated with living in a particular neighborhood or subdivision and, therefore, represents conspicuous consumption.” Even when the homes’ square footage and amenities were equal, the word “country” propped up sales prices. The researchers even discovered that street and subdivision names are valued more than school quality. | Read More