An article on the Wall Street Journal development blog about how renaming streets and neighborhoods could lead to restoring falling housing prices quoted Velma Zahhirovic-Herbert and Swarn Chatterjee, assistant professors in the housing and consumer economics department of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.
Their research examined the effect of having the words “country” or “country club” on the value of the houses on that street. Their findings show that houses on such streets have 4.2 percent more value, and houses on streets named Country Club Drive or Country Club Mews are valued a total of 9.3 percent higher. This higher sales prices occur even if all other factors, such as swimming pools and square footage are equal.
“The reason is that it captures the prestige associated with living in a particular neighborhood or subdivision and, therefore, represents conspicuous consumption,” the author’s report stated.
