IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20230059.html

The effect of urban trees on house prices: evidence from cut-down trees in Amsterdam

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Rouwendal

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Lynn Bouwknegt

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of urban trees on house prices in Amsterdam by utilizing a detailed data set of trees that were cut-down near the house. By using exogenous reasons the tree was cut-down such as disease or storm, unobserved heterogeneity can be dealt with, and a causal effect established. We use a staggered difference-in-difference approach to hedonic pricing analysis. We find an effect of 1.19 percent decrease in house prices when a tree is cut-down within 75 meters of the house. The effect is largest when trees within that area are scarce. This provides further evidence that urban trees are a valued aesthetic amenity for home owners and should be treated accordingly.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Rouwendal & Lynn Bouwknegt, 2023. "The effect of urban trees on house prices: evidence from cut-down trees in Amsterdam," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-059/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/23059.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Rouwendal & Willemijn Weijschede- v.d. Straaten, 2008. "The costs and benefits of providing open space in cities," CPB Discussion Paper 98, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    3. Dani Broitman & Eric Koomen, 2020. "The attraction of urban cores: Densification in Dutch city centres," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(9), pages 1920-1939, July.
    4. Butts, Kyle, 2023. "JUE Insight: Difference-in-differences with geocoded microdata," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    5. Anderson, Soren T. & West, Sarah E., 2006. "Open space, residential property values, and spatial context," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 773-789, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cellini, Stefano & Nobre, Francisco, 2026. "Private provision of local public goods and housing market responses: Evidence from London," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Vincent, Pierre, 2026. "Does urban overheating affect neighborhood attractiveness? Evidence from the French housing market," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    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. Cheshire, Paul, 2009. "Urban land markets and policy failures," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 30837, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Paul Cheshire, 2009. "Urban Containment, Housing Affordability and Price Stability - Irreconcilable Goals," SERC Policy Papers 004, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Pengju Zhang, 2023. "The fiscal and economic impacts of municipal dissolution: evidence from New York," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(4), pages 948-1001, August.
    4. Yu, Yantuan & Zhang, Ning, 2025. "Towards low-carbon development through integration of technology and finance: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Bo, Shiyu & Zhang, Fan & Zhu, Hongjia, 2026. "Moving to opportunity for polluting: Intra-city evidence from China’s land market," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    6. Wouter Vermeulen & Jan Rouwendal, 2008. "Urban Expansion or Clustered Deconcentration?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 08-043/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Ioulia Ossokina, 2010. "Geographical range of amenity benefits: Hedonic price analysis for railway stations," CPB Discussion Paper 146, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    8. Brülhart, Marius & Klinke, Gian-Paolo & Marcucci, Andrea & Rohner, Dominic & Thoenig, Mathias, 2023. "Price and Prejudice: Housing Rents Reveal Racial Animus," CEPR Discussion Papers 18050, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    9. Xi Liu & Yinhe Liang, 2026. "Information, Distance and Firms’ Responses: Evidence from Polluting Monitoring in China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 89(2), pages 1-44, February.
    10. Liu, Antung A. & Wang, Yucheng & Zhang, Lei, 2025. "The effect of subway policies on gasoline consumption: Subway expansion versus fare changes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    11. Joschka Flintz & Stefanie Gaebler & Viktoria Kleinschmidt & Felix Roesel, 2026. "Train Stations and Car Registrations: Evidence from Station Openings in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 12927, CESifo.
    12. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    13. Wright, Austin L. & Sonin, Konstantin & Driscoll, Jesse & Wilson, Jarnickae, 2020. "Poverty and economic dislocation reduce compliance with COVID-19 shelter-in-place protocols," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 544-554.
    14. Ana M. Silva & José M. Arranz & Carlos García-Serrano, 2026. "Evaluating the impact of the large 2019 increase in the Spanish minimum wage on job retention and employment," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, December.
    15. Benos, Nikolaos & Conti, Maurizio & Papazoglou, Michail & Tsoumaris, Stamatis, 2026. "When Universities Matter: Academic Quality, Market Access, and Urban Growth in Pre-Industrial Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 18781, IZA Network @ LISER.
    16. Katrin Huber & Geske Rolvering, 2023. "Public child care and mothers’ career trajectories," Working Papers 228, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    17. Shun-Yang Lee & Julian Runge & Daniel Yoo & Yakov Bart & Anett Gyurak & J. W. Schneider, 2023. "COVID-19 Demand Shocks Revisited: Did Advertising Technology Help Mitigate Adverse Consequences for Small and Midsize Businesses?," Papers 2307.09035, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    18. Shirin, Farzana, 2023. "Does Teacher Salary Support Improve Student Learning Outcomes," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335793, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Wahyu, Muhammad & Thaariq, Rahmanda & Lusiantoro, Luluk, 2026. "Breaking connectivity barriers: Does China’s Belt and Road Initiative affect global logistics performance?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    20. Yang Haodong & Liu Jialin & Wang Gaofeng, 2025. "Knowledge Innovation Effect of University Computing Power in China: Evidence from the top500 Supercomputers," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 66(1), pages 1-30, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:tin:wpaper:20230059. 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: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    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.