The Effect of Street Trees on Perceived Values of Residential Property

Recently sold suburban residential properties in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, were identified via a real estate agent's multiple listing service (MLS). The residences were photographed from the street, the photos digitized to create computer files and then computer video-simulation techniques used to add three different size-class trees to the images. Public groups evaluated the individual color slide images for their expected property value and perceived attractiveness. Judged property value and attractiveness were highly correlated with the MLS recorded sales price. Tree size was not a main effect with either evaluation. For more expensive properties there was a slight increase in value for the addition of smaller trees, but a decrease associated with large trees. For less expensive properties there was no significant effect of tree presence or size. There were no effects related to subject group demographics. The results suggest the need for more caution in ascribing economic value to suburban street trees and for more research into the processes people use in weighing the risks and benefits of tree plantings. The image-editing method used in this quasi-experiment proved useful in allowing the easy manipulation of the study variable.