Home is where the stoner is. If it’s not, maybe it should be, according to a new report that finds homeowners in states with recreational marijuana laws on the books are enjoying higher property values than those living in areas of prohibition. It’s just another sign that the business of growing and selling weed is not diminishing the pursuit for the American dream but rather providing more opportunities to live it.
A recent study from the folks at Clever Real Estate finds that property values in legal pot states are worth $6,000 more than in places where possession of the herb means living in a jail cell. This conclusion was made after analyzing data provided by the popular real estate website Zillow.
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Researchers found that people who owned home in spots with legal marijuana experienced an increase of $6,337 in their property values between 2017 to 2019. This appreciation was actually more significant in those places where retail marijuana dispensaries were easily accessible. The study finds that these areas saw an increase of almost $23,000 over the past five years.
“States that legalize recreational cannabis see an immediate bump in home values following legalization, even without retail dispensaries opening up,” the report reads.
It was once believed that marijuana legalization would cause a deterioration in property values. Back before the first states moved to establish a taxed and regulated system on the drug back in 2012, there were concerns that legalization would open those areas open to less than desirable characters are sink the investments of upstanding citizens for years to come.
But the latest report seems to indicate that the complete opposite is happening—that communities and the homeowners that built them and welcoming more positives, which is translating to all good things in terms of property value. This is especially true for major cities where consumers are able to find legal weed as easy as other inebriating necessities of life in this day and age.
“The first two states to legalize recreational cannabis, Colorado and Washington, enjoyed the biggest increases of all since changing legislation to allow adult use cannabis sales and consumption in 2012,” according to the report.
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Denver, in particular, has seen a significant boost.
“Since Denver retail dispensaries opened their doors on January 1, 2014, residential property values have increased 67.8%, the most significant growth in over two decades.”
Over the years, there have been reports of increasing crime rates in states that have legalized the leaf, yet there isn’t really any hard data that suggests this uptick in insanity is attributed solely to marijuana legalization. Furthermore, many state officials have said they are pleased by the results that legalization has had in their neck of the woods. So, without a doubt, “real estate investors can find blazing housing markets in cities where recreational cannabis is legalized,” the report finds.
