Editorial: The challenge of residential land valuation

Land valuation is important for multiple reasons. It is central to land taxation, two-rate taxation of land and buildings, taxation of land value increments and public land leasehold systems. Examples of papers published in the Journal of European Real Estate Research (JERER) on these topics include Grover et al. (2017), who examine how the barriers to the successful implementation of value-based property tax reforms in emerging European economies can be overcome, and Korthals Altes (2019), who investigates land pricing in the context of the extension of public leaseholds in Amsterdam. Public leaseholds are found in some parts of Europe, including Finland, Sweden and The Netherlands. With respect to taxation of land value increments, Wyatt (2018), in a paper also published in JERER, considers the provision of affordable housing in England. Beyond the benefits with respect to property taxation and leasehold administration, decomposing the value of properties into their land and structure components is essential for understanding house price dynamics and understanding the role of land price changes over time. It is important to measure land price changes accurately if we want to understand the drivers of such changes.