Attracting redevelopment in “inner-ring” municipalities of U.S. metropolitan areas – focusing on Los Angeles and Boston

This paper examines the underlying socio-economic conditions that are likely to explain redevelopment activity in the “inner-ring” municipalities of a metropolitan area. The area of study consists of 54 municipalities within Los Angeles county limits and 33 municipalities in the Boston metropolitan area. The time length covered is from 1970 through 2000, focusing on the rate of change in socioeconomic and development conditions from 1970 to 2000 and 1980 to 2000. Among the selected municipalities for the two metropolitan areas, we focused on two groupings based on income - those with median household income within the 20th – 50th percentile and those within the 51st – 100 percentile. The results indicate that local socioeconomic conditions appear to have greater impact on property values in the Los Angeles area than in Boston. Although, new residential activity seems to be influenced by socioeconomic trends in Los Angeles, the empirical analysis in both cities indicates that other factors, such as public incentives, may impact new development activity more significantly.