What’s Your Home Worth? Look at the Address Name

One of the best things about buying property is that it isn’t just a place to live, but also an investment. With any luck, and barring any catastrophic economic meltdown, your home will go up in value as you live in it. But how much will it go up? The answer may depend on a surprising factor: Your address.

What’s in an Address?

No, we’re not talking about where the house is physically located. We’re talking about the actual names, letters or numbers that are in the home’s address. You may be surprised to know that there is a correlation between your home’s address, and the value of the property, at least according to some studies.

Names or Numbers?

By some estimates, a home on a street with an actual name, as opposed to a number, is worth about 2% more. In some cities, named street addresses can be as much as 20% higher than their numeric counterparts. Only one city in America—Denver—had homes that were worth more with numeric streets.

Suffixes

But what about the suffixes? A name is one thing, but names can have “avenue” or “boulevard” or “court” or any number of descriptors attached to them. Yes, there is a difference here as well.

Some of the difference stems from history, as some suffixes have been used for a longer period of time, making homes on those streets, generally older, and thus, worth less. For example using “way” or “circle” became popular in the 80s, making them likely to be more expensive or valuable than homes with just “street” or “avenue,” which have been used since the 50s or 60s.

As a general rule, the fewer homes on a street, the bigger the homes (or the land that they are on) are. There are less homes on “courts” or “lanes,” than there are on other suffixes.

Be Unusual

Going outside the suffixes, what about the names themselves? It’s best to be unusual, because more common named streets tend to have lower home values. But suffices play a role here as well. “Main Street” is very common, and thus, lowers a home’s value. But “Main Drive” or “Main Court,” had  significantly higher value than “Main Street.”

In Florida, one study found that streets named after a holiday were worth less. That includes home addresses that actually have the word “holiday” in them. That also includes the word “holly,” which lowers a home’s value.

Is There a Real Correlation?

Of course, these homes aren’t more valuable because of the name itself; it’s because the names reflect a criteria that makes the home valuable. For example, homes on a street that have the word “lake” are valuable, just because they are likely to be named that because they are off the water, a valuable characteristic.

Get your real estate closing right, and avoid potential problems. Call the West Palm Beach real estate lawyers at The Law Offices of Larry E. Bray today with your questions about closing on real estate.

Sources:

nytimes.com/2015/01/25/opinion/sunday/the-secrets-of-street-names-and-home-values.html#:~:text=Street%20suffixes%20also%20offer%20clues,always%20among%20the%20least%20valuable.

sun-sentinel.com/2022/12/31/homes-on-holiday-named-streets-worth-less-in-south-florida-study-suggests/

nytimes.com/2015/01/25/opinion/sunday/the-secrets-of-street-names-and-home-values.html