Urban Trees: Love 'Em or Hate 'Em?

0:00It's April 5th. From your city to your ears, this is Sydney News Today, powered by AI. A new study out of Sydney City of Sydney area drops some real estate truth bombs on urban trees. Researchers crunched data from 1,568 home sales between January 2021 and August 2024. Mapping over 48,000 street trees. Turns out, a single public tree within 10 meters of a home center can slash its value by up to 2.69%. That's about 70,000 dollars off and averaged 2.6 million dollar property. Zoom out a bit and trees between 10 and 20 meters away actually boost prices by 1.16% adding around 30,000 bucks. Only 129 sales had trees that close and species like brush box, London Plain and Tucker Roo seem to drag values down most, thanks. To roots, litter, or allergies. Local expert Song Shi from University of Technology Sydney says it shows folks dig trees but hate them too close in dense spots, pure urban planning.

1:04Tension. Other pros like Matthew Ng caution the samples tiny urging councils to iRoot systems, driveways, and mature sizes before planting. Meanwhile, capital city councils nationwide are ramping up tree canopy, Sydney's at 20% now, with 18,000 street trees added in. Two decades to fight heat waves doubling by 2050. They consult residents in aim for that sweet 10 to 20 meters own. This pushes cities to get smarter on green upgrades, weighing livability gains against homeowner pushback for streets that shade without the shade on. Wallets.