In an analysis of homes sold east of the Willamette River, a new report says street trees can add an average of $8,870 to sales prices and reduce time-on-market by almost two days.
The report, which will be published in Landscape and Urban Planning, is the first of its kind to examine the "effect of urban trees on the housing market" by explicitly focusing on street trees.
Yesterday at the National Arbor Day Foundation conference at the DoubleTree Lloyd Center, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) listed appropriate landscaping and the practice of urban forestry as "absolutely essential" elements of ‘greenfrastucture.'
"Home values are enhanced by appropriate landscaping and especially street trees," said Blumenauer.
"A business that is in a shaded business district, on average, has 10 percent higher sales. This is real money to real people. Improving the quality of life and bolstering economic activity."
The street tree report used data collected during the summer of 2007, when 3,479 single-family homes-every home sold in a 10-month period-were visited for detailed evaluations.
Algorithm factors gathered include: sale price; distance to downtown; distance to nearest park; house age; tree type; tree size; and many more.
While the equations include a swath of data variables for each home and street tree, the concluding message is singular: "In Portland, the benefits of street trees significantly outweigh their maintenance costs," wrote co-authors David Butry of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Geoffrey Donovan of the Portland Forestry Sciences Laboratory.
In dollars and square footage, the average canopy coverage of 904 square feet found at a home created a resale value equivalent to an additional 129 square feet of finished house, according to the report. Applying that average effect to the 126,176 east side houses yields a total value of $1.12 billion.
According to the report, there are approximately 236,000 street trees in Portland, with a 26 percent canopy cover.
Top photo: Friends of Trees Board Member Nancy Buley with Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). Courtesy Friends of Trees.
Interesting.