The price of beauty: Biodiversity effects on residential housing markets

The price of beauty: Biodiversity effects on residential housing markets | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The price of beauty: Biodiversity effects on residential housing markets Michael Koetter, Birte Winter, Fabian Woebbeking This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9060348/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We study how and why local biodiversity affects residential property values. We leverage remotely sensed indicators and a novel dataset of granular property listings to examine how changes in biodiversity proxies load on real estate prices. More biodiversity is associated with higher listing prices and fewer properties listed in local housing markets. These results suggest that price hikes are driven by supply‑side constraints instead of gauging a ''greenium'' that reflects innate preferences. Exogenous zoning shocks to foster biodiversity corroborate the presence of supply side constraints as price drivers in residential housing markets. Our findings emphasize the need to calibrate biodiversity and (social) housing policy objectives more explicitly. Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Economics Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Environmental economics biodiversity risk house prices remote sensing Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9060348","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":607750353,"identity":"7b2478d6-12b8-4823-9508-526cdf673014","order_by":0,"name":"Michael Koetter","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6525-8622","institution":"Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michael","middleName":"","lastName":"Koetter","suffix":""},{"id":607750354,"identity":"2dff1a43-6e1e-4187-b90c-ffb345e9358e","order_by":1,"name":"Birte Winter","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Birte","middleName":"","lastName":"Winter","suffix":""},{"id":607750355,"identity":"4301b674-f56c-4649-8d35-f806373c4892","order_by":2,"name":"Fabian Woebbeking","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fabian","middleName":"","lastName":"Woebbeking","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-07 18:45:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9060348/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9060348/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108988295,"identity":"a7755bd8-c84f-4fd4-a1ca-5bb2395dbe91","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-11 13:04:51","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1586331,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"CombinedPDFAnonymous.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9060348/v1_covered_ca3727fb-64b0-4267-99f1-7703c0984377.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eThe price of beauty: Biodiversity effects on residential housing markets\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"biodiversity, risk, house prices, remote sensing","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9060348/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9060348/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We study how and why local biodiversity affects residential property values. 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