Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 39(2): March 2013 trees (Anderson and Cordell 1988). In order to determine if this was the case in the six communities studied, a model was developed to test for these preferences. Dominant genus information was col- lected during the on-site property inspections. For use in the analy- sis, dominant deciduous trees were indicated with the number zero and dominant evergreen trees were indicated by the number one. The set of explanatory variables accounted for 69% (R2 = 0.685) of the variation in this model (Table 5). Con- sistent with the previous models, living in Hyde Park and Clifton have the greatest influence on sale price. The deciduous versus evergreen variable was not found to be sig- nificant. These finding are consistent with previous research. Table 4. Results of the analysis of quadratic effects. R2 adjusted R2 Variable Sale date Square footage # acres # bedrooms Style height Year built Year built 2 Total baths Tree cover Tree cover 2 Hyde Park Kennedy Heights Clifton Carthage North Avondale = 0.678, F-value = 85.07, n = 600. Coefficient 1.36 41.4 191,349 4,640.82 -9,453.68 14,618 -3.62 33,800 634.77 1.03 184,551 402.29 111,461 1,131.09 10,511 t-ratio 0.32 6.38 7.44 1.05 -0.98 0.76 -0.73 5.59 0.9 0.1 14.4 0.03 8.18 0.08 0.76 = 0.686, P-value 0.7481 <0.0001 <0.0001 0.2939 0.3283 0.4468 0.465 <0.0001 0.37 0.918 <0.0001 0.9745 <0.0001 0.936 0.4452 Note: Sale date: number of days on market prior to sale; square footage: size of living space in square feet; number of acres: lot size in acres; number of bedrooms; style height: one story or two story; year built: house age in years; baths: assigned 1 point for a whole bath and 0.5 point for a half bath; cover: estimated percentage of tree cover; and neighborhood (Hyde Park, Kennedy Heights, Clifton, Carthage, or North Avondale; coded 1 = yes, 0 = no). Table 5. Results of the analysis of evergreen versus deciduous trees on property values of the Cincinnati, Ohio, communities of Bond Hill, Carthage, Clifton Hyde Park, and North Avon- dale. R2 = 0.686, adjusted R2 Variable Sale date Square footage # acres # bedrooms Style height Year built Total baths Tree cover Deciduous/evergreen Hyde Park Kennedy Heights Clifton Carthage North Avondale Coefficient 1.68 40.02 190,337 4,878.77 -9,165.72 558.5 33,506 746.31 -840.86 186,087 886.95 115,042 -3027.3 12,556 = 0.678, F-value = 88.45, n = 600. t-ratio 0.38 6.04 7.34 1.08 -0.93 2.81 5.44 3.1 -0.09 14.21 0.07 8.27 -0.22 0.9 P-value 0.7038 <0.0001 <0.0001 0.2805 0.3551 0.0052 <0.0001 0.0021 0.9283 <0.0001 0.9449 <0.0001 0.8232 0.3709 Note: Sale date: number of days on market prior to sale; square footage: size of living space in square feet; number of acres: lot size in acres; number of bedrooms; style height: one story or two story; year built: house age in years; baths: assigned 1 point for a whole bath and 0.5 point for a half bath; tree cover: estimated percent- age of tree cover; deciduous/evergreen: determined for each plant on property, and neighborhood (Hyde Park, Kennedy Heights, Clifton, Carthage, or North Avondale; coded 1 = yes, 0 = no). Genus Research has determined that people have preferences for tree size (Kalmbach and Kielbaso 1979; Hitchmough and Bonugli 1997; Heimlich et al. 2008) and tree shape (Sommer and Sum- mit 1996; Sommer 1997). Italian and Portuguese immigrants to North America were found to have preferences for fruit tree spe- cies (Fraser and Kenney 2000). In the interest of determining if citizens of the six Cincinnati communities had a preference for tree genera, a model was developed to assess their preferences. During the on-site inspection, dominant genus, as deter- mined by assessment of most prevalent canopy cover, was not- ed for each of the 600 properties. Over 40 different genera of trees were found to be dominant on the 600 properties. Although there were many genera, some were very common while others were only noted on a few properties. The six top genera were chosen as they represented the majority of trees in the com- munities and it was thought that using genera with only a few properties represented would not be valid. The six most com- mon genera in the study, with quantities, include Acer (128), Quercus (126), Picea (64), Pinus (41), Malus (33), and Pyrus (30). Analysis indicated that the genus of a tree was not impor- tant to property owners in the communities studied. The model captured 69% (R2 53 = 0.688) of the variation in sales price (P ≤ 0.05). Residents of these six communities are willing to pay for trees on the property but do not seem to have a preference for a specific type of tree. Most homeowners are probably not knowledgeable of the specific qualities of the various tree genera. This study also found that the number of trees on a prop- erty, as well as caliper of dominant species, was not significant. Neighborhoods The six neighborhoods—Bond Hill, Carthage, Clifton, Hyde Park, Kennedy Heights, and North Avondale—vary from one another demographically. Hyde Park is the most afflu- ent, with a median household income of $59,541, while Car- thage has the lowest median household income of $27,364 (Table 7). Hyde Park also ranks number one in college education with 69.5% of its residents possessing a bachelor’s de- gree or higher (Table 7). Carthage ranks lowest in college education with only nine percent of its residents possessing a four-year degree (Table 7). With differences in education, income, and household family status there is likely to be differences in attitudes about trees. A model was developed to determine if these six neighborhoods varied significantly in their willingness to pay for trees (Table 6). As in previous models, living in Hyde Park and Clif- ton are important in determining the sale price of a property (Table 6). The explanatory variables in this model explained 70% of the variation in price (R2 = 0.697) (P ≤ 0.05) (Table 6). Lot size, living square footage, number of baths, and the year the home was built were also found to be significant. Tree cover seems to be valued more in Hyde Park and North Avondale where it had a significant effect on property values (Table 6). The P-value for cover in Clifton was 0.118, which may indicate that cover has a weak effect in determining sale price in this community. The cover effect in Bond Hill, which was the constant, Carthage and Kennedy Heights is very close to zero and may have a slightly negative effect on sale price. ©2013 International Society of Arboriculture
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