In 1972, the average home price in the United States was
approximately $30,000. Fifty years later, that number broke
$500,000, an increase that is, no doubt, aggravated by a 4.5
million-unit deficit in supply. State and local governments have
largely failed to respond and continue erecting regulatory barriers
to new residential construction. But, in 2023 the Ohio General
Assembly adopted a new tax abatement program that combats the
shortage with an incentive for more housing development.
Section 5709.56 of the Ohio Revised Code encourages the creation
of new residential parcels by alleviating the real estate tax
burden imposed upon developers in two ways. First, this program
establishes a baseline taxable value for subdivided lots that
distributes a prorated share of the purchase price of a parent
parcel across the lots subdivided from that parent parcel in the
same year. Second, Section 5709.56 freezes the taxable value of the
newly created lots for a period of eight
