Bidding Wars and The Built Environment : The Omnipresent Effect of School Quality on Housing Markets

We provide new evidence of parental demand for effective schools by exploiting shocks to school quality resulting from the continual unexpected redistricting of school attendance boundaries in Atlanta, Georgia. Using repeat-sales of the same house before and after they were redistricted, we show redistricting houses to more (less) effective schools increases (decreases) demand. Houses that are redistricted to more (less) effective schools are more (less) likely to be involved in a market-driven bidding war. Similarly, undeveloped, redistricted parcels are more (less) likely to be built on. The redistricting process also generates economically significant welfare effects that accrue to existing homeowners