New Real Estate Institute of Victoria research puts a premium of about $237,000 on Melbourne’s leafiest suburbs, and PIPA Chair Cate Bakos was quoted on what it means for buyers.
What the research measured
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria compared tree density against median house prices across Melbourne for the June quarter of 2026. Suburbs with 50 per cent more tree coverage than the metropolitan average recorded medians $237,000 higher than less green suburbs. That gap is the leafy suburb premium, and it is the figure driving this study.
Mont Albert and Surrey Hills ranked first and second for tree density, with medians of $1,942,000 and $1,950,000. Heathmont ranked third at $1,075,000, more than $150,000 above neighbouring Bayswater and Bayswater North, which carry less canopy. Only six of the fifty leafiest suburbs recorded a median below $1 million. At the other end, five of Melbourne’s most affordable areas, with medians between $560,000 and $625,000, sat among the twenty-five least tree dense suburbs in the city.
The perception of higher value is a street level observation
Cate Bakos, who chairs PIPA and works as a buyer’s advocate in Melbourne, put the finding in the terms a practitioner would recognise.
If we take a suburb on a case-by-case basis, it’s a fair thing to say that generally the leafiest streets are those that are most highly regarded and attract the highest prices in any given suburb, it’s a very reliable correlation.
Cate Bakos, Chair of PIPA, quoted in the Herald Sun, the 31st of August 2026
She is describing something property advisers note: within a given suburb, the leafy street outperforms the bare one. That observation is sound and it is consistently cited.
What the leafy suburb premium actually measures
The harder question is what the $237,000 is measuring.
The fifty leafiest suburbs sit almost entirely across Melbourne’s east, northeast and southeast. Those are the city’s established suburbs, and they were always mapped as residential areas, unlike the gentrified inner-ring suburbs and the once-industrial west. REIV chief executive Toby Balazs makes the point directly, noting that an area that is established from a green perspective is likely to have established amenity as well, in terms of access to trains and schools.
A suburb level comparison between leafy Balwyn and a tree-poor growth corridor estate is not a measurement of what tree canopy is worth. It is a measurement of the difference between an established eastern suburb and a new estate on the fringe, of which canopy is one component among transport, schools, established retail, housing stock and a century of infrastructure.
The street level version of the observation survives this problem, because two streets in the same suburb share the same trains, the same schools and the same shops. The suburb level version does not. Anyone using the $237,000 figure to justify a purchase is using a number that has not isolated the thing they are paying for.
A premium and a return are not the same measurement
A premium describes what the market has already paid. A return describes what happens after settlement. Leafy streets are obvious in every listing photograph and now mapped on satellite imagery. Every buyer competing for that property can see it, and the price reflects it.
Balazs suggests there is room for future growth in the six leafiest suburbs still priced below $1 million, supported by leafy streets, parks and lower cooling costs.
Where the trees are a liability
Cate Bakos also cautioned in the article that mature trees can work against a buyer. An older tree’s roots growing beneath a dwelling can lead to structural problems, and protected trees on a block someone intends to develop can constrain or prevent the development entirely.
This is the part of the story a median cannot show, and it is the part that often costs money.
- The location of significant trees relative to the dwelling and its footings.
- Whether any tree on or adjoining the site is covered by heritage protections or a vegetation protection overlay.
- Whether the council requires a permit to prune or remove, and what costs are entailed.
- What the insurer says about root damage and tree failure on that property.
- Whether any development or extension intended for the site is achievable within those constraints.
None of that is visible in a canopy map and this requires due diligence by a competent adviser.
What a consumer should ask for
Anyone recommended an investment purchase on the strength of an amenity, whether that is tree canopy, a school zone, a new station or a foreshore, is entitled to ask the person recommending it to show the comparable evidence that the premium is worth paying, at the level of the individual street rather than the suburb.
An adviser who can put that in writing is doing the work. Consumers can find a Qualified Property Investment Adviser through PIPA.
Why the accreditation exists
Property investment advice is not a licensed profession in Australia. Anyone may offer it, and anyone may quote a research finding in support of a recommendation without ever being asked whether the finding measures what they are claiming it measures.
PIPA exists to draw that line. The QPIA accreditation sets the education standard, and the PIPA Code of Conduct sets the professional obligations behind it, including disclosure of commissions and the requirement to act in the client’s interest. PIPA continues to advocate for property investment advice to be brought inside a regulatory framework, so the standard applies to everyone offering it rather than only to those who volunteer for it.
Reported by
Alesha Capone, Herald Sun and realestate.com.au, 31 August 2026
Research by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, June quarter 2026. PIPA has commented on this coverage for members and consumers. Copyright in the original article remains with its publisher.
