Market Value Analysis (MVA)
In 2021, Allegheny County Economic Development (ACED), in partnership with the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA), completed the 2021 Market Value Analysis (MVA) for Allegheny County. This analysis services as both an update to previous MVA's commissioned separately by ACED and the URA and combines the MVA for the whole of Allegheny County (inclusive of the City of Pittsburgh).
The MVA is a unique tool for characterizing markets because it creates an internally referenced index of a municipality's residential real estate market. The MVA offers insight into the variation in market strength and weakness within and between traditional community boundaries because it uses Census block groups as the unit of analysis. Market types about each other on the map become instructive about the potential direction of market change, and ultimately, the appropriateness of the kinds of investment or intervention strategies.
This MVA utilized data that helps to define the local real estate market. The data used covers the period from 2017-2019 and includes:
- Residential Real Estate Sales
- Mortgage Foreclosures
- Residential Vacancy
- Parcel Year Built
- Parcel Condition
- Building Violations
- Owner Occupancy
- Subsidized Housing Units
The MVA uses a cluster analysis statistical technique, forming groups of areas (i.e., block groups) similar to the MVA descriptors noted above. The goal is to create groups within which there is a similarity of characteristics, but each group is different. Using this technique, the MVA condenses vast amounts of data for the universe of all properties to a manageable, meaningful typology of market types that can inform area-appropriate programs and decisions regarding the allocation of resources.