Assessing the Market Value of Heritage Properties: Theoretical and Methodological Issues

The recognized importance of cultural heritage properties for contemporary socio-economic systems has led to an intense scientific debate on assessing these properties’ economic value. This scientific effort has produced different theories, which have come together to conceive heritage properties’ value as the combination of a use-value and a use-independent value. The focus on this latter value dimension and the awareness of the failure of the traditional appraisal discipline’s principles and methods in addressing the heritage’s complexity have led the scientific debate to neglect the issue of assessing their market value. However, the relevance of properly assessing heritage assets’ market value, which also stems from the wider opening to private entities in conservation issues, makes it appropriate to trigger a sound and appropriate scientific reflection on the theme. Based on these premises, the paper aims to stimulate a discussion about heritage properties’ market value by reflecting on the application opportunities of the different evaluation approaches. More in detail, after pointing out the main theoretical challenges related to heritage properties’ market value estimation, it delves into describing the main available evaluation approaches as a starting point for their comparison in light of their applicability opportunities and limits, together with their possibilities to include the cultural dimension’s appreciation in the value judgment. Based on this comparison, the emerging preliminary evidence is drawn out and taken as a reference for tracing the future developments of a broader reflection on heritage properties’ market value.