Highest and Best Use

Highest and Best Use

Highest and Best Use

The analysis asks whether a use is physically possible, legally permissible, financially feasible, and maximally productive. Valuation proceeds from that use rather than the current one.

Reasonable probability of rezoning may be considered.

Alternative Names:

Highest and Best Use Analysis|HBU

Why it Matters?

Reasonable probability of a zoning change can be incorporated where the evidence supports it, which permits valuing agricultural land at development potential if approval was likely. That inquiry frequently doubles or triples the valuation and is therefore the central appraisal dispute. Speculative rezoning is excluded, so the analysis turns on evidence of comparable approvals, municipal planning documents, and the parcel's position relative to existing development.

Frequently Confused with

Frequently asked questions

Can rezoning probability affect value?

Can rezoning probability affect value?

Where the evidence supports reasonable probability, which permits valuing land at development potential rather than current use.

What evidence supports the probability?

What evidence supports the probability?

Comparable approvals, municipal planning documents, and the parcel's position relative to existing development.