Understanding value changes in the urban development process and the impact of municipal planning

•A model showing property values during the urban development process is presented.•The model is scaled and adds knowledge about the size of the value increase.•The values of properties in urban development areas are affected by municipal planning.•The impact of planning is largest when planning is decisive on what can be built. An urban development process causes spatial changes and changes of associated property rights, and, as a consequence, the value of the property will change as well. This linkage between spatial changes, changes of associated property rights and property values represents an important element in understanding how property values change during the urban development process and the role of municipal planning as a value changing factor in the urban development process. The objective of this paper is to analyse how property values change throughout the urban development process, and further, to discuss the explanations for these changes by comprising the impact of municipal land-use planning. This paper presents a conceptual model showing how property values in urban development areas change during the urban development process and information about the extent to which value increases. The model is directed towards countries with a regulated land use, exemplified by Denmark.