IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v238y2025ics0921800925001922.html

Capitalization of urban tree cover: An internal meta-analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Siriwardena, Shyamani D.
  • Boyle, Kevin J.
  • Holmes, Thomas P.

Abstract

Hedonic studies of residential tree cover vary spatially due to differences in data and estimation methods, which make it difficult to generalize whether there are differences in preferences, local environmental conditions or differences in data and estimation approaches. We conduct hedonic analyses of tree cover in multiple U.S. cities using consistent spatial data and estimation methods and summarize results via an internal meta-analysis. Study results provide robust evidence for spatially varying preferences for tree cover in urban areas. The results indicate that homeowners place more value on tree cover that is located on properties more than 0.1 km from their homes than tree cover on or near their own properties, within 0.1 km. This poses important community challenges in the public provision of tree cover, which can result in under investment in tree cover at the individual property level. This preference dichotomy can influence community support regarding tree removal and planting policies. The results suggest that areas with more rainfall and higher temperatures are less likely to have positive tree-cover capitalization in property prices. This is an important consideration as climate change brings higher temperatures and more severe storms that pose greater risks of forest fires and falling limbs/trees that can affect residential properties.

Suggested Citation

  • Siriwardena, Shyamani D. & Boyle, Kevin J. & Holmes, Thomas P., 2025. "Capitalization of urban tree cover: An internal meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:238:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925001922
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108709
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800925001922
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108709?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel P. McMillen, 2010. "Issues In Spatial Data Analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 119-141, February.
    2. Paul Thorsnes, 2002. "The Value of a Suburban Forest Preserve: Estimates from Sales of Vacant Residential Building Lots," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 78(3), pages 426-441.
    3. Price, James I. & McCollum, Daniel W. & Berrens, Robert P., 2010. "Insect infestation and residential property values: A hedonic analysis of the mountain pine beetle epidemic," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 415-422, July.
    4. Plant, Lyndal & Rambaldi, Alicia & Sipe, Neil, 2017. "Evaluating Revealed Preferences for Street Tree Cover Targets: A Business Case for Collaborative Investment in Leafier Streetscapes in Brisbane, Australia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 238-249.
    5. Sander, Heather & Polasky, Stephen & Haight, Robert G., 2010. "The value of urban tree cover: A hedonic property price model in Ramsey and Dakota Counties, Minnesota, USA," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1646-1656, June.
    6. Ram Pandit & Maksym Polyakov & Rohan Sadler, 2014. "Valuing public and private urban tree canopy cover," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 58(3), pages 453-470, July.
    7. Daniel, Claire & Morrison, Tiffany H. & Phinn, Stuart, 2016. "The governance of private residential land in cities and spatial effects on tree cover," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 79-89.
    8. Noelwah R. Netusil, 2005. "The Effect of Environmental Zoning and Amenities on Property Values: Portland, Oregon," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 81(2).
    9. Kelly C. Bishop & Nicolai V. Kuminoff & H. Spencer Banzhaf & Kevin J. Boyle & Kathrine von Gravenitz & Jaren C. Pope & V. Kerry Smith & Christopher D. Timmins, 2020. "Best Practices for Using Hedonic Property Value Models to Measure Willingness to Pay for Environmental Quality," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(2), pages 260-281.
    10. Joshua K. Abbott & H. Allen Klaiber, 2011. "An Embarrassment of Riches: Confronting Omitted Variable Bias and Multi-Scale Capitalization in Hedonic Price Models," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1331-1342, November.
    11. Marisa J. Mazzotta & Elena Besedin & Ann E. Speers, 2014. "A Meta-Analysis of Hedonic Studies to Assess the Property Value Effects of Low Impact Development," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, January.
    12. Mansfield, Carol & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K. & McDow, William & McDonald, Robert & Halpin, Patrick, 2005. "Shades of Green: Measuring the value of urban forests in the housing market," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 177-199, December.
    13. Kevin Boyle & Christopher Parmeter & Brent Boehlert & Robert Paterson, 2013. "Due Diligence in Meta-analyses to Support Benefit Transfers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(3), pages 357-386, July.
    14. Jed Cohen & Christine Blinn & Kevin Boyle & Thomas Holmes & Klaus Moeltner, 2016. "Hedonic Valuation with Translating Amenities: Mountain Pine Beetles and Host Trees in the Colorado Front Range," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(3), pages 613-642, March.
    15. Palmquist, Raymond B., 2006. "Property Value Models," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 16, pages 763-819, Elsevier.
    16. Kirsten Schwarz & Michail Fragkias & Christopher G Boone & Weiqi Zhou & Melissa McHale & J Morgan Grove & Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne & Joseph P McFadden & Geoffrey L Buckley & Dan Childers & Laura Ogden & S, 2015. "Trees Grow on Money: Urban Tree Canopy Cover and Environmental Justice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    17. Kent Kovacs & Thomas Holmes & Jeffrey Englin & Janice Alexander, 2011. "The Dynamic Response of Housing Values to a Forest Invasive Disease: Evidence from a Sudden Oak Death Infestation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 49(3), pages 445-471, July.
    18. Tuttle, Carrie M. & Heintzelman, Martin D., 2015. "A loon on every lake: A hedonic analysis of lake water quality in the Adirondacks," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Donovan, Geoffrey H. & Prestemon, Jeffrey P. & Butry, David T. & Kaminski, Abigail R. & Monleon, Vicente J., 2021. "The politics of urban trees: Tree planting is associated with gentrification in Portland, Oregon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    20. Lautrup, M. & Panduro, T.E. & Olsen, J.V. & Pedersen, M.F. & Jacobsen, J.B., 2023. "Is there more to trees than timber? Estimating the private amenity value of forests using a hedonic land model for combined agricultural properties," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    21. Noelwah R. Netusil & Sudip Chattopadhyay & Kent F. Kovacs, 2010. "Estimating the Demand for Tree Canopy: A Second-Stage Hedonic Price Analysis in Portland, Oregon," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 86(2), pages 281-293.
    22. Phillips, Mallory & Boyle, Kevin J. & Swedberg, Kristen, 2025. "Valuation of forested river riparian buffers: Support for riverine integrity and climate resilience," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    23. Holmes, Thomas P. & Murphy, Elizabeth A. & Bell, Kathleen P., 2006. "Exotic Forest Insects and Residential Property Values," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 35(01), pages 1-12, April.
    24. Stetler, Kyle M. & Venn, Tyron J. & Calkin, David E., 2010. "The effects of wildfire and environmental amenities on property values in northwest Montana, USA," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2233-2243, September.
    25. Cho, Seong-Hoon & Poudyal, Neelam C. & Roberts, Roland K., 2008. "Spatial analysis of the amenity value of green open space," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 403-416, June.
    26. Elena G. Irwin, 2002. "The Effects of Open Space on Residential Property Values," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 78(4), pages 465-480.
    27. H. Spencer Banzhaf & V. Kerry Smith, 2007. "Meta-analysis in model implementation: choice sets and the valuation of air quality improvements," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(6), pages 1013-1031.
    28. Pope, Jaren C., 2008. "Fear of crime and housing prices: Household reactions to sex offender registries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 601-614, November.
    29. Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Parmeter, Christopher F. & Pope, Jaren C., 2010. "Which hedonic models can we trust to recover the marginal willingness to pay for environmental amenities?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 145-160, November.
    30. Siriwardena, Shyamani D. & Boyle, Kevin J. & Holmes, Thomas P. & Wiseman, P. Eric, 2016. "The implicit value of tree cover in the U.S.: A meta-analysis of hedonic property value studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 68-76.
    31. Ottensmann, John R. & Payton, Seth & Man, Joyce, 2008. "Urban Location and Housing Prices within a Hedonic Model," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 38(01), pages 1-17.
    32. Seong-Hoon Cho & Dayton Lambert & Seung Kim & Roland Roberts & William Park, 2011. "Relationship between value of open space and distance from housing locations within a community," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 393-414, December.
    33. Tyrvainen, Liisa & Miettinen, Antti, 2000. "Property Prices and Urban Forest Amenities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 205-223, March.
    34. Jan Melichar & Pavel Rieger & Ondřej Vojáček & Karel Jedlička, 2009. "Measuring the Value of Urban Forest using," Regionální studia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2009(2), pages 13-20.
    35. Kovacs, Kent & West, Grant & Nowak, David J. & Haight, Robert G., 2022. "Tree cover and property values in the United States: A national meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Siriwardena, Shyamani D. & Boyle, Kevin J. & Holmes, Thomas P. & Wiseman, P. Eric, 2016. "The implicit value of tree cover in the U.S.: A meta-analysis of hedonic property value studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 68-76.
    2. Kovacs, Kent & West, Grant & Nowak, David J. & Haight, Robert G., 2022. "Tree cover and property values in the United States: A national meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    3. Marisa J. Mazzotta & Elena Besedin & Ann E. Speers, 2014. "A Meta-Analysis of Hedonic Studies to Assess the Property Value Effects of Low Impact Development," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, January.
    4. Li, Xiaoshu & Boyle, Kevin J. & Preisser, Evan L. & Holmes, Thomas P. & Orwig, David, 2022. "Property value effects of the Hemlock wooly adelgid infestation in New England, U.S.A," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    5. H. Allen Klaiber & Joshua K. Abbott & V. Kerry Smith, 2017. "Some Like It (Less) Hot: Extracting Trade-Off Measures for Physically Coupled Amenities," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(4), pages 1053-1079.
    6. Belcher, Richard N. & Chisholm, Ryan A., 2018. "Tropical Vegetation and Residential Property Value: A Hedonic Pricing Analysis in Singapore," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 149-159.
    7. Li, Liqing, 2023. "Environmental goods provision and gentrification: Evidence from MillionTreesNYC," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    8. Plant, Lyndal & Rambaldi, Alicia & Sipe, Neil, 2017. "Evaluating Revealed Preferences for Street Tree Cover Targets: A Business Case for Collaborative Investment in Leafier Streetscapes in Brisbane, Australia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 238-249.
    9. Zhaoyang Liu & Heqing Huang & Juha Siikamäki & Jintao Xu, 2024. "Area-Based Hedonic Pricing of Urban Green Amenities in Beijing: A Spatial Piecewise Approach," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(5), pages 1223-1248, May.
    10. Waltert, Fabian & Schläpfer, Felix, 2010. "Landscape amenities and local development: A review of migration, regional economic and hedonic pricing studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 141-152, December.
    11. Franco, Sofia F. & Cutter, W. Bowman, 2022. "The determinants of non-residential real estate values with special reference to environmental local amenities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    12. Panduro, Toke Emil & Jensen, Cathrine Ulla & Lundhede, Thomas Hedemark & von Graevenitz, Kathrine & Thorsen, Bo Jellesmark, 2018. "Eliciting preferences for urban parks," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 127-142.
    13. Tuffery, Laetitia, 2017. "The recreational services value of the nearby periurban forest versus the regional forest environment," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 33-41.
    14. Mei, Yingdan & Hite, Diane & Sohngen, Brent, 2017. "Demand for urban tree cover: A two-stage hedonic price analysis in California," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 29-35.
    15. Tuttle, Carrie M. & Heintzelman, Martin D., 2013. "The Value of Forever Wild: An Economic Analysis of Land Use in the Adirondacks," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 119-138, April.
    16. Matthew Gnagey & Therese Grijalva, 2018. "The impact of trails on property values: a spatial analysis," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(1), pages 73-97, January.
    17. Koetter, Michael & Winter, Birte & Wöbbeking, Carl Fabian, 2025. "The price of beauty: Biodiversity effects on residential housing markets," IWH Discussion Papers 21/2025, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    18. Votsis, Athanasios, 2017. "Planning for green infrastructure: The spatial effects of parks, forests, and fields on Helsinki's apartment prices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 279-289.
    19. Abbott, Joshua K. & Klaiber, H. Allen, 2010. "Is all space created equal? Uncovering the relationship between competing land uses in subdivisions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 296-307, December.
    20. Jay Mittal, 2017. "Valuing Visual Accessibility of Scenic Landscapes in a Single Family Housing Market: A Spatial Hedonic Approach," ERES eres2017_1, European Real Estate Society (ERES).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:238:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925001922. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.