Valuing Urban Wetlands: A Property Pricing Approach,

Abstract

This study estimates the value of wetland amenities in the Portland, Oregon, met- ropolitan area using the hedonic property price model. Residential housing and wetland data are used to relate the sales price of a property to structural characteristics, neighborhood attri- butes, and amenities of wetlands and other envi- ronmental characteristics. Measures of interest are distance to and size of wetlands, including distance to four different wetland types; open wa- ter, emergent vegetation, scrub-shrub, and for- ested. Other environmental variables include proximity to parks, lakes, streams, and rivers. Re- sults indicate that wetlands influence the value of residential property and that wetlands influence property values differently than other amenities. Increasing the size of the nearest wetland to a res- idence by one acre increased the residence's value by $24. Similarly, reducing the distance to the nearest wetland by 1,000 feet increased the value by $436. Home values were not influenced by wetland type. (JEL Q25)