Heterogeneous preferences for urban scattered greenery: Evidence from two-stage hedonic estimation in Tokyo

This study uses two-stage hedonic estimation to examine household preferences for scattered greenery (e.g., roadside trees and yard bushes) in highly developed urban areas. We use proprietary survey data to obtain a wealth of property and resident characteristics and link these to scattered greenery based on high-resolution satellite images and surrounding amenity characteristics for analysis. The results showed that the preferences for scattered greenery were highly heterogeneous and that a few households were willing to pay a hefty amount. The average household pays about 1,540 yen per month for scattered greenery if they live on their owned property and about 300 yen per month if they live on rented property. Also, regardless of the type of residence, wealthy people prefer scattered greenery, while those who plan to move within a few years tend to like it less. Additionally, even if they live on an owned property, single households have little willingness to pay for greenery, and even if they live on a rented property, people with a high level of health awareness or people living with children have a high willingness to pay. The results of this study shed light on the causes of heterogeneity in preferences for greenery by decomposing the property and resident characteristics that have been confused in previous studies.