Numerous studies over the years have attempted to identify the impact of amenities on housing price levels within specific metropolitan areas. It is well known, for example, that local public goods, tax burdens, school quality, crime rates and so forth are capitalized into land values.

This paper uses newly available quality-controlled house price indexes to estimate the extent of capitalization of both taxes and services by looking at the relationship between changes in house prices and changes in school quality, non-school spending, and taxes.