Factors Affecting Residential Property Development Patterns

The pattern of residential development within the context of metropolitan growth and development has been the subject of an extensive literature. Among the streams of literature have been monocentric and policentric models, rent gradients and population density, and spatial mismatch and jobs/housing balance. Less explored have been the factors determining the specific location of development from within a larger set of suitable locations. This paper uses a disaggregated data set, county property appraiser data, to track the number of new single-family housing units built in each section (square mile) of Alachua County, Florida by the year built over a twenty- year period. The paper explores the role of transportation, large-scale development, employment nodes, existing patterns of development, and regulation on the spatial pattern of development. As discussions turn to smart growth, compact development, and the alleviation of sprawl, it is important to understand the forces that contribute to observed development patterns.