Valuing urban wetlands: A property price approach

This study estimates the value of wetland amenities in the Portland, Oregon , metropolitan area using the hedonic property price model. Residential hou sing and wetland data are used to relate the sales price of a property to s tructural characteristics, neighborhood attributes, and amenities of wetlan ds and other environmental characteristics. Measures of interest are distan ce to and size of wetlands, including distance to four different wetland ty pes; open water, emergent vegetation, scrub-shrub, and forested. Other envi ronmental variables include proximity to parks, lakes, streams, and rivers. Results indicate that wetlands influence the value of residential property and that wetlands influence property values differently than other ameniti es. Increasing the size of the nearest wetland to a residence by one acre i ncreased the residence's value by $24. Similarly, reducing the distance to nearest wetland by 1,000 feet increased the value by $436. Home values were not influenced by wetland type. (JEL Q25).