Author(s): Jonah Coste
Abstract: In 2000, Philadelphia enacted an abatement policy that exempted new development from property taxes for 10 years. This policy provides an ideal natural experiment to test property tax capitalization because it creates contemporaneous intra-jurisdiction tax variation within a finite and known duration. Consistent with theory, the tax benefits are initially capitalized fully into home prices. However, as abatements near expiration, the benefits become overcapitalized in home prices. This paper also finds that escrow payment shocks cause delinquencies for owners of homes with expiring abatements.
A revised version of this paper has been accepted for publication and is forthcoming in the journal Real Estate Economics.