Increasing contribution of urban greenery to residential real estate valuation over time

Cities can experience losing greenery to urban development, while also pursuing greening efforts. However, whether and how long-term changes in land-use and policies affect ecosystem services and greenery preferences is not well-known, due to the paucity of longitudinal data. We created a novel land cover fraction map in Singapore from 1990 to 2020 using high-resolution satellite imagery, finding an overall decline in greenery area within public housing towns and evidence of greenery intensification in the remaining greenery area. Hedonic pricing analysis suggested positive and increasing marginal effects of greenery area on real estate prices; for each apartment unit this was S$39,130 ± S$15,951 (9.2% ± 3.8% of the average real estate price) during the 1990s; S$46,049 ± S$14,124 (10.9% ± 3.3%) during the 2000s; and S$50,048 ± S$17,079 (11.7% ± 4.0%) during the 2010s. An increased preference for tree cover and decreased preference for grass cover was observed, reflecting long-term changes in urban land-use and greening efforts. Our results suggest that urban greenery has become increasingly valuable to home owners and society in Singapore, occurring alongside decreasing quantity and increasing quality of urban greenery, illustrating how combining careful development with greening efforts can lead to an increase in urban ecosystem services.