Posted inChapel Hill

We need to remember what we are

Chapel Hill is a college town.  More specifically, Chapel Hill  is a research university town. Two of the top 13 institutions in the country that receive federal research funds are either in Chapel Hill or immediately adjacent to Chapel Hill. Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill received $2.4 billion in sponsored research and development funds for federal […]

Posted inChapel Hill

Do apartment buildings generate enough tax revenue to pay for the services they receive from the town?

Earlier this week, we asked a simple question — has recent large scale multi-family development in Chapel Hill improved the extent to which residential development as a whole pays for itself in terms of taxes paid versus public services consumed? We wrote that this question was based in part on a town-funded cost of services […]

Posted inHousing

A model for housing and housing prices

There’s quite a bit of vocal disagreement in Chapel Hill about how housing and housing prices work. Here, I lay out a simplistic model to illustrate how I think and what I assume about housing and housing prices. I hope this helps move our conversation forward. First, I will say that this model is going […]