Valor del suelo y vivienda, contención al crecimiento urbano y densificación en bogotá 1969-2012

In 1979, Bogotá implemented an urban growth boundary with an increase in height limits in central areas. These policies were aimed to protect the surrounding rural areas and consolidate a dense and multi-use city center. Internationally, these policies are criticized arguing that they increase the prices of urban land, which is opposed by the argument that this increase is compensated by raising height limits to avoid higher housing prices. The present study analyzed the height limits and the increase in the price of homes and land, gathering historical prices from different sources and crossing these data with the height regulations of each era. The results show that the increases in the height limits and their use by real estate investment were differentiated and contrary to the intentions of zoning plans, greater in the areas of high social stratum, moderate in the middle stratum, and smaller and even negative for the low stratum. The land in the high stratum sector increased more than seventeen times in value while housing prices remained stable; the valuation was much lower in the lower stratum and housing is now more expensive.