Empirical analysis of the impact of a landlord-tenant ordinance on property values2

The purpose of this article is to analyze the impact of a landlord-tenant ordinance (LTO) on property values, using time series data for the City of Evanston, Illinois, where the ordinance has been enacted since 1975. The empirical data analysis, which includes a trend analysis of hedonic price indices for both rental and owner-occupied property, has shown that an LTO is not likely to significantly affect housing values. Those remedies provided in the LTO are not likely to be radical departures from the current practices such as housing/building code, and can therefore not be expected to affect housing values substantially.