Cars, trees, and house prices: Evaluation of the residential environment as a function of numbers of cars and trees in the street

Abstract

When imagining a perfect home, many people visualize a tree-lined, leafy neighborhood, and a road that only has a few parked cars. But how strongly do people really appreciate having fewer parked cars and more street trees, both in terms of an affective appreciation of the home, and in terms of a price estimate of the home? This experiment, with 281 participants recruited from Leiden University, aimed to answer this question by using four photographs of street scenes with different architectural styles and digitally modifying them to manipulate the number of parked cars (4 levels; from no cars to overfull) and street trees (3 levels; from no trees to 50% density). The four photographs were presented to participants on a computer screen in random order, with a random level of the cars and trees variables in the street in each photograph. Participants were asked to rate the neighborhood in terms of safety, friendliness and beauty, and to rate two residences in each of the four photographs presented in terms of attractiveness, estimated sale price and estimated income of the current owner. Analyses using multilevel modelling found that both the neighborhoods and the residences were appreciated less when the street was overfull with parked cars. Participants estimated approximately 5% higher prices for residences when there were trees in the street, as well as rating the neighborhood as more attractive. The data were consistent with the hypothesis that neighborhood appraisal mediates the relationship between cars and affective appreciation of the residence as well as the hypothesis that neighborhood appraisal mediates the relationship between trees and price estimation.