Penn State researchers found that farms and other open-space land uses increase the value of houses located within a quarter-mile radius. The researchers collected sales prices and other information on more than 8,000 Berks County homes sold between 1998 and 2002. Open space, including forested acreage and grass, pasture, and cropland, located with a quarter mile of a house, had the largest positive effect on the value of that house. These results can be used to predict the effect of land use change on nearby residential property values. Read the study at www.landuse.aers.psu.edu. And tell your neighbors you’re keeping their property values up!