unearned increment

American  

noun

1. the increase in the value of property, especially land, due to natural causes, as growth of population, rather than to any labor or expenditure by the owner.

---

unearned increment British  

noun

1. a rise in the market value of landed property resulting from general economic factors

---

Etymology

Origin of unearned increment

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Adoption of the single tax would do away with the profits which come from land appreciation and are known as unearned increment or economic rent.

From Time Magazine Archive

But severe levies on unearned increment jack up the rate in some brackets as high as the Federal tax.

From Time Magazine Archive

In both cases there is or will be "unearned increment," or society-created values; but in the one case he gets the increment, while in the other case he pays it.

From Conservation Through Engineering Extract from the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior by Lane, Franklin K.

He had absorbed the unearned increment and I had my original capital, the bean poles, intact-and that's more than most of us realize on small investments, nowadays.

From Old Plymouth Trails by Packard, Winthrop

Speculators would job land for the sake of unearned increment; towns would have to grow as landlords willed, irrespective of the wants or convenience of the community.

From Post-Prandial Philosophy by Allen, Grant