IMPACT OF TREES AND LANDSCAPING ON HOUSING VALUES IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

This paper is aimed at investigating the impact of trees and landscaping on the prices of residential properties in Singapore. The study specifically centres on landscaping vis-avis terraced, semi-detached and detached houses in Singapore. After a review of the literature appropriate to the study, a case study involving 1,275 sales was conducted via the hedonic model to assess the effect of landscaping on the sales prices. It was found that landscaping is positively correlated to house prices. Furthermore, landscaping contributes an average of $60,700 to terraced houses and an estimated $86,000 to semi-detached house prices. In other words, landscaping commands an average premium of 6.4% and 6.6% for terraced houses and semi-detached houses respectively. This is statistically significant as the study provides a clear indication that landscaping does exert a slight impact on terraced and semi-detached houses. Although the study was also conducted on detached houses, the result obtained was inconclusive of the effect of landscaping on this particular category. This implies that landscaping, which traditionally has been employed mainly to enhance a property's aesthetic appeal, is valued by the market as an environmental amenity and capitalized into price. Thus property developers could significantly enhance the value of their terraced and semi-detached housing developments by providing landscaping for each unit.