Thursday, September 13, 2007

Pickup trucks are legal again in Coral Gables, Florida. Will property values fall?

The town of Coral Gables, FL has had an ordinance that bars people from parking pickup trucks on the street between 7 am and 7 pm. It seems that pick up trucks are not aesthetically pleasing. So this ban had been in effect for 4 decades and a man challenged a fine in court and won. The court ruled the ordinance was unenforceable. But now those ugly vehicles will be on the streets. I guess they will cause a negative externality, making the town less appealing. People will be less interested in moving there. With a fall in demand for housing, the property values fall. The town also regulates what color you can paint your house and how high your grass can be. Some believe the pickup truck law was in effect to keep out certain elements. Below is a link to the story

Pickup Trucks Now Allowed To Park On Coral Gable Streets

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Coral Gables is a high-end neighborhood in Miami and like the rest of Florida had a few years of insane growth in property values. My opinion is a few pick up trucks will not cause a decrease in property values, as the present property values already keep out most middle and lower income people. May be the US car makers will fund any future court fights so that they can sell their line of luxury trucks to the residents.

Cyril Morong said...

Carl

Thanks for checking the blog out again. Hope your studies are going well. I recall that you mentioned living in Florida, so thanks for the insights.

Lowell Kuvin, Esq. said...

And let us not forget that price is a function of supply and demand. The Ford F-150 is the most popular car in American history. Therefore, the more people who are available to purchase a house in Coral Gables (more demand) the prices of the houses should remain higher.

Lowell Kuvin has BA in Economics from FIU.