Does backyard accessory dwelling unit increase home value?

[T. Damon]

Expensive, destination type cities, sure. Most other places it would be a crap shoot to the buyer pool’s needs.

My city would be in the first category and within a state and city that recently radically changed its zoning in an attempt to accommodate more housing options in this very expensive market. Nearly all formerly single-family only zoning is now potentially three units; main residence, up to 1200 sf ADU and junior ADU (studio) ~350 sf. One of which has to be owner occupied. I say potentially as there are still parking requirements (often eliminated if near transit) FAR, setbacks and other zoning rules to conform to.

As such many properties near the urban core as I am are now aggressively marketed to it having an ADU potential if it doesn’t have one already. Existing granny flats and formerly non-legal units are brought up to code and staged as part of the “compound”. Since the change in zoning is recent the effects are mostly yet to be realized and while there has been some outcry to the potentially negative effects to the character of formerly quiet single family neighborhoods my thinking is that it will be a slow and mostly organic process.

I love my cottage in a big garden in a neighborhood with more than a few ADUs, duplexes and some small apartment buildings scattered about. It all seems to work. I don’t have a desire or need at this time for an ADU on my property and surmise most nearby home owners are like me and I’m certain there is yet a healthy pool of buyers who desire garden space over a property of mostly buildings. I guess if I was in an area with only single family units and less urban (still majority SF development here) than mine I could see the concern as well as questioning as to what concise value an ADU would bring.

[North Beach Person]

As I mentioned, we have several of these here. Actually always did. We had to adopt some ordinances, as I mentioned, about 15 years ago addressing them because investor/developer's were putting in duplexes and not keeping up with the infrastructure, primarily off street parking and water/sewer service.

One hitch is when the owner tries to sell them off individually and it can't be done due to minimum lot size. We had a poster here whose landlord tried it and was stopped and the poster bitched about it for years.

[SFBayBoomer]

And now, in 2020, when it is advisable to keep our distance from each other, comes a slew of ADU laws to ensure that density will only be increased. Ugh. The one thing that I have here to be pleased about in my suburban neighborhood now during the pandemic is a little bit of wiggle room and peace and quiet, albeit there are already too many cars in the street.

BACKYARD BUILDING BOOM? (March 3, 2020 article)

"Many new housing laws took effect on January 1st of this year to encourage property owners to build ADUs on their property to generate affordable housing production, and in most cases they won’t need their neighbors approval to create it."

https://irvinewatchdog.org/2020/03/0...building-boom/