After all, those multitudes of green circles that populate a site plan do more than merely satisfying the cosmetic needs of the two-dimensional graphic. A federal study completed by the Pacific Northwest Research Station, National Institute of Standards and the US Department of Commerce has established a direct link between the value of homes and the number of street trees in Portland.
Key findings of the study are:
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On average, street trees add $7,020 to the price of a house in Portland, which is equivalent to increasing the size of a house by 106 square feet.
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Street trees increase the value of homes in Portland by a total of $1.1 billion, which is equivalent to annual benefits of $45 million.
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The annual maintenance costs of Portland’s street trees are $4.6 million ($3.3 million is borne by the homeowner), so the benefit-cost ratio of Portland’s street trees is almost 10 to 1.
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Street trees increase annual property tax revenue for the city of Portland by $13 million.
1 Comment
March 7, 2009 at 5:47 am
Interesting to see it being quantified. Struggling to do the same in another context, in a streetscaping project!