ABSTRACT
Recently, it has been suggested that public policy should play a stronger role in reducing and containing uncertainty in land and property markets by making this an explicit policy objective. (Adams et al. 2003; Adams, Dunse and White 2005). Adams et al. (2005) consequently argue that the issue of uncertainty should be included when analysing the impact of public policy on land and property markets. It is conjectured that different forms and combinations of public policy have different impacts on uncertainty reduction, although this has not yet been rigorously explored empirically (for an exception see Allmendinger 2006). Adams and Tiesdell (2010) thus observe that an answer is still awaited to the ‘important’ question posed by Healey, namely:
Do plans stabilize land and property markets, creating greater certainty, thereby reducing transaction costs and by, limiting the potential for ‘over-building’ in a property market, producing greater efficiency in the relation between supply and demand in the land markets? (1992: 13)
