Valuation of community land trust homes in New York state

This article examines assessment of a rare but quickly growing type of property—owner-occupied, resale-restricted homes on leased land. This property arrangement is facilitated by community land trusts (CLTs) in order to stabilize low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and to perpetually recycle the subsidy required to make home ownership affordable for low-income buyers. CLT home ownership differs substantially from other property interests and merits specific consideration in the context of property assessment to ensure equitable taxation. As a contribution to the wider research agenda and to help assessors understand CLTs, this article briefly describes CLTs and their national position and history and then examines the methods used by individual assessors in New York State, where, like many states, there is little legislative, judicial, or administrative guidance for valuing this type of property.