Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 39(2): March 2013 Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 2013. 39(2): 49–55 49 The Effect of Landscape Trees on Residential Property Values of Six Communities in Cincinnati, Ohio Kelley C. Dimke, T. Davis Sydnor, and David S. Gardner Abstract. The value of the urban forest as a component of the urban environment is significant. Trees provide both environmental and social benefits to urban dwellers. In many cities, financial support for urban forestry is on the decline. The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact trees have on property values of six communities (Bond Hill, Carthage, Clifton, Hyde Park, Kennedy Heights, and North Avondale) of varying socioeconomic levels in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. Tax assessor records were obtained for property sales between the years 2000 and 2005. One hundred sites were randomly selected from each of the six communities. Data were collected from each site during the winter as well as the summer months. Dominant genus, caliper of dominant genus, estimate of tree cover, and overall property maintenance were recorded. The hedonic method was used for this analysis. The average (mean) effect of tree canopy across all six communities was an increase of approximately USD $780 per one percent increase in tree cover. The mean sale price across the 600 sites was $188,730; the mean canopy cover was 25.8%. This indicates the average value of tree canopy is $20,226 or 10.7% of the sale price of the home. Key Words. Cincinnati; Environmental Benefits; Hedonics; Ohio; Property Value; Urban Forestry. Environmental benefits of the urban forest include improved air quality, energy conservation, climate mod- eration, flood control, stormwater mitigation, wild- life habitat, and reduction of noise levels (Dwyer et al. 1992). Trees help reduce stress and improve the physi- cal health of urbanites. Research among hospital patients found that patients with a view of from their hospital recovery room of greenspace that included trees were on average discharged patients from the recovering in hospital rooms sooner, without and required less pain management medication than hos- pital windows or with windows that did not have a view of greens- pace (Ulrich 1984). In studies that compare qual- ity of life issues in public housing units in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., Kuo (2003) reports a significant cor- relation between residents’ access to greenspace with trees and turf and lower rates of crime, suggesting that the quality of the landscaping in neighborhoods may affect variables such as communication between residents, frequency of people occupying outdoor spaces, and how such strengthening of social ties can affect crime. Despite the many benefits of the urban forest, financial support for urban for- estry programs is on the decline (Hauer and Johnson 2008). Previous research in the United States and Europe has shown varying impact of trees on property values. Environmental, economic, and social factors affect willingness to pay for trees and therefore impacts vary from country to country, and even region to region, within the United States. For this research, data were collect- ed during summer months when deciduous tree canopy was present, as well as during winter months with the absence of deciduous tree cover. A model was devel- oped to determine if home sale prices were affected by the presence or absence of tree cover. The six neighborhoods studied were of varying economic backgrounds. Differences in education and income were theo- rized to be determining factors in a person’s willingness to pay for tree cover. A model was developed to evaluate differ- ences in the value of tree cover among the six neighborhoods. Hedonic price studies, regression modeling, as well as various qualitative methods have been used to study both the effects of generally positive variables (such as proxim- ity to golf courses) and generally negative variables (such as proximity to leaking underground storage tanks) on prop- erty values (Faber 1998; Simons et al. 1999; Boyle and Kiel 2001). Hedonics is a method of non-market valuation (Free- man 2003). In this study, hedonics was used to estimate the monetary value of tree cover as an environmental asset. This method assumes that differences in property prices are due to differences in housing characteristics. Property prices should reflect the extra money people are willing to pay for an environmental asset such as trees (Tyrväinen 1997). This method relates the market price of a good, typically hous- ing, to the set of characteristics that define it. The monetary value of each characteristic can be calculated by observing the differences in the market price of commodities sharing the same attributes (Morancho 2003). The price paid for a good is considered to be the sum of the price paid for each characteristic (Morancho 2003). A hedonic model can be computed from data about prices and property attributes. Implicit prices for different housing characteristics are es- timated by multiple regression analyses (Tyrväinen 1997). The objective of this research was to evaluate the im- pact trees have on property values of six distinct commu- ©2013 International Society of Arboriculture
March 2013
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