Laying the Groundwork to Restore Market Viability

When governments and private developers need to know where their investments and revitalization efforts will make the biggest impact, they turn to TRF’s Market Value Analysis (MVA). Since the first MVA of Philadelphia in 2001, TRF has forged partnerships with government agencies throughout the Mid-Atlantic to create 12 other MVAs.

Developed by TRF’s Policy Group, the MVA identifies market types throughout a city, enabling TRF, city agencies, and developers to make researched and data-supported decisions when allocating limited resources. For both the cities that commission it and for TRF, the MVA is the first step towards restoring market viability and wealth in distressed communities; it provides a framework for daily operation and long-term planning.

In 2007, TRF completed an MVA for New Jersey’s largest city, Newark. The MVA considered eight specific indicators including owneroccupancy rates, percentage of home sales that were sheriff sales, vacancies and sales prices. The analysis revealed a city plagued by some of the lowest owner-occupancy rates in the country, and with increasingly cost-burdened homeowners. In some middle-income neighborhoods believed to be the most stable, where homeownership rates are unusually high for Newark, the MVA found sheriff sales at alarming levels. This finding was later independently affirmed in a New York Times article on Newark.

Based on these findings, the City has commissioned TRF to study Newark’s mortgage foreclosures and recommend appropriate intervention strategies. The MVA is also a basis for reinvestment plans TRF is creating for two Newark neighborhoods, Kent Brenner and West Market, on behalf of the City’s Department of Economic and Housing Development. The Newark MVA was one of seven conducted for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.