What Is a Tree Worth? Green‐City Strategies, Signaling and Housing Prices

Abstract

We investigate the correlation between curbside tree plantings and housing price movements in Philadelphia from 1998 to 2003, comparing two programs, one by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society (PHS) that requires block-group effort that focuses on low-income neighborhoods and the other by the Fairmount Park Commission that is individual-based without specific target areas. A 7 to 11% price differential is identified within 4,000 feet of the Fairmount tree plantings. We argue that this is largely driven by either social capital creation or a signaling mechanism, on top of an intrinsic tree value (around 2%). Findings using the PHS tree program suggest that development of social capital or environmentally conscious behavior might be a less important channel. Any positive changes brought by the PHS tree plantings were not detected with sufficient statistical power. Copyright 2008 American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association

Volunteered geographic information, urban forests, & environmental justice

“…These benefits include: amelioration of the urban heat island effect (Bolund & Hunhammar, 1999;Chen & Jim, 2008;Heidt & Neef, 2008;Kielbaso, 2008;Sailor, 1995;Sampson, 1989;Simpson, 2002), energy conservation (Andreu, Friedman, Landry, & Northrop, 2008;Chen & Jim, 2008;Donovan & Butry, 2010;Dwyer, Mcpherson, Schroeder, & Rowntree, 1992;Ebenreck, 1989;Kielbaso, 2008;Sailor, 1995), reduction of atmospheric pollution (Bolund & Hunhammar, 1999;Dwyer et al, 1992;Nowak, Hoehn, Crane, Stevens, & Walton, 2007), carbon storage and sequestration (Andreu et al, 2008;Chen & Jim, 2008;Dwyer et al, 1992;Kielbaso, 2008;Sampson, 1989), reduction of stormwater runoff (Bolund & Hunhammar, 1999;Chen & Jim, 2008;Dwyer et al, 1992;Ebenreck, 1989;Kielbaso, 2008;Xiao & McPherson, 2003), increased property values (Anderson & Cordell, 1985;Sander, Polasky, & Haight, 2010;Wachter & Wong, 2008), reduction of urban noise (Bolund & Hunhammar, 1999;Chen & Jim, 2008;Dwyer et al, 1992;Ebenreck, 1989), physical and psychological health benefits (Chen & Jim, 2008;Ebenreck, 198...…”

The Impact of Green Stormwater Infrastructure Installation on Surrounding Health and Safety

“…28 and improving air quality. 29 Economic benefits are also a key driver for cities' decisions to invest in GSI and other green space remediations; for instance, proximity to urban parks 30 and street tree plantings 31 can increase property values.…”

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