Does Landscaping Add Value? Australian Costs and Returns
Robert EishoAugust 18, 2026Most articles on this question quote the same figure: landscaping adds up to 28 per cent to your home’s value. Chase that number back and it usually leads to overseas research, some of it more than a decade old. Fair enough as a rule of thumb, but if you are deciding whether to spend $20,000 on your backyard before selling, you deserve better than a recycled statistic. The good news is that Australia now has proper transaction-based data on this, and it is more encouraging than the old numbers suggested.
Quick answer: Yes. The 2026 Plant Value Report, produced by Greener Spaces Better Places with Domain, found houses marketed with greenery sold for 17.4 per cent more nationally, about $140,000 on the capital city median. Sydney recorded the highest premium in the country at 28.7 per cent, roughly $401,500. Listings with greenery also drew around 7 per cent more views and sold faster. The return depends heavily on doing simple, visible work well rather than spending big on personal features.
What the Australian data actually shows
The most useful research on this question is The Plant Value Report, produced by horticultural body Greener Spaces Better Places in partnership with Domain. It analysed Domain listing data over the twelve months to August 2025, which makes it a study of what Australian buyers actually paid rather than what anyone estimated they might pay.
The national findings were consistent. Houses marketed with greenery achieved 17.4 per cent higher prices, around $140,000 more on the combined capital city median. Units with greenery achieved 16.1 per cent more, roughly $100,000. Properties with greenery also attracted about 7 per cent more buyer views, and sold marginally faster, a day quicker for houses and three days for units.
The market-by-market breakdown is where it gets interesting for Sydney owners. Sydney houses recorded the highest premium in the country at 28.7 per cent, an average of about $401,500, with units at 23.4 per cent. The report attributes this to how scarce greenery is in dense urban markets, which makes it more valuable when a property has it. Regional houses showed uplift of up to 24 per cent. Domain’s chief of research and economics, Dr Nicola Powell, described the green premium as becoming a greater priority for buyers rather than a passing preference.
Read this honestly: The report measures homes marketed with greenery against those without, using listing data. That is a strong and current correlation, not a controlled experiment, and well-presented gardens often sit on properties that are well presented generally. Treat the figures as evidence that presentation moves prices, not as a promise that spending a set amount returns a set percentage.
Agent surveys point the same way. Research commissioned by Hort Innovation found around 40 per cent of surveyed agents said a well put together garden and lawn can add more than 20 per cent to a home’s value, with nearly a quarter putting the figure above 30 per cent.
Why buyers pay more for a landscaped home
The dollar figures make more sense once you understand what is actually happening in a buyer’s head.
- It sets the first impression. Buyers form a view of a property before they reach the front door, and increasingly before they leave the couch, since most first impressions now happen in listing photos.
- It reads as usable space. A deck, a paved entertaining area or a functional lawn is mentally added to the home’s living area. Australian buyers treat outdoor space as part of the house, not an extra.
- It signals maintenance. A cared-for garden suggests the roof, gutters and everything else have been looked after too. A neglected one suggests the opposite, fairly or not.
- It reduces perceived work. Buyers price in what they will need to fix. A finished outdoor area removes that mental deduction entirely.
- It attracts more competition. More views and more inspections mean more bidders, and competition is what actually moves the final price.
What adds the most value
The pattern across the research is that simple, visible, low-maintenance work outperforms expensive features. Buyers pay for tidy and useful. They discount personal and demanding things.
| Improvement | Typical effect on value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lawn repair and tidy edges | High return for low cost | The cheapest visible improvement available |
| Fresh mulch on beds | High return for low cost | Instantly lifts every garden bed |
| Deck or paved entertaining area | Commonly returns 70–80% of cost | Adds usable living space, highly valued in Australia |
| Established trees and screening | Strong, and grows over time | Also improves privacy, shade and energy use |
| Outdoor lighting | Good return for modest cost | Makes the space usable at night and photographs well |
| Retaining and drainage | Rarely visible, but removes objections | Buyers discount hard for unresolved drainage |
| Koi ponds, themed gardens | Usually negative | Read as maintenance burdens by most buyers |
What does not pay off
It is worth being blunt about the other side. Features that reflect a very particular taste narrow your buyer pool. Koi ponds, novelty or themed gardens, large built-in outdoor kitchens and intricate formal hedging all cost significant money and are frequently seen by buyers as something to maintain or remove. Large-scale earthworks to flatten a whole yard are another common overspend, particularly when the real problem is drainage in one low spot that could be fixed for a fraction of the price.
Artificial turf divides opinion. It solves a genuine problem on rooftops, deep shade and sites without irrigation, but it is expensive to remove and tends to date, so it is not a reliable value-add on a standard suburban block.
The cost of a neglected garden
The downside is as real as the upside. Industry estimates put the impact of a neglected garden at roughly 5 to 15 per cent of value, and the mechanism is straightforward. Buyers estimate what it will cost them to fix, add a margin for the disruption, and take that off their offer. That deduction is almost always larger than what the work would have cost you to do first.
Before you sell: the highest-return moves
If you are selling within a few months, spend on presentation rather than construction. These are the jobs with the best return per dollar and per week.
- Mow, edge and weed everything. Crisp edges between lawn and beds make an entire property look maintained.
- Lay fresh mulch. The single highest-impact, lowest-cost improvement in any garden.
- Repair the lawn. Patch, feed or re-turf bare areas. Fresh turf at the front of a property changes the first impression completely.
- Pressure-wash hard surfaces. Paths, paving and driveways look years newer for the cost of a hire.
- Frame the entry. Planting or pots either side of the front door directs attention where you want it.
- Fix what is visibly broken. Leaning fences, sticking gates and dead lights are exactly the details buyers use to justify a lower offer.
How much should you spend?
There is no single right figure, and anyone quoting one without seeing your property is guessing. A more useful way to think about it is to match the spend to your timeline.
| Your situation | Sensible approach | Indicative spend |
|---|---|---|
| Selling in 4–8 weeks | Presentation only: tidy, mulch, turf repair, cleaning | $1,000 – $5,000 |
| Selling in 6–12 months | Targeted work: planting, edging, lighting, small paved area | $8,000 – $25,000 |
| Staying 3+ years | Build properly: deck, paving, drainage, structure and planting | $25,000+ |
If you are staying a while, the calculation changes in your favour. Landscaping is one of the few improvements that keeps improving on its own, since planting matures rather than dating the way a kitchen or bathroom does. The Australian Government’s Your Home guide also notes that well-planned landscaping reduces heating and cooling loads, which is a return you collect every year rather than only at sale.
Common mistakes
- Spending big right before a sale. Major construction rarely returns its full cost in a few weeks. Presentation does.
- Building for yourself, not the market. The more personal the feature, the smaller the pool of buyers who will pay for it.
- Ignoring the front. Owners focus on the backyard they use, but buyers see the front first and form their view there.
- Leaving drainage unresolved. It is invisible until it rains during an inspection, and then it is the only thing anyone remembers.
- Creating a maintenance problem. A garden that clearly needs constant work reads as a cost, not a feature.
- Neglecting it until the last minute. Planting needs time to establish. Work done six months out looks settled; work done six days out looks staged.
How Living Green Outdoors can help
Whether you are preparing to sell or planning to stay, the same principle applies: money spent on structure, drainage and sensible planting works harder than money spent on statement features. Living Green Outdoors designs and builds outdoor spaces across Sydney and surrounding suburbs, and can advise on what is worth doing for your property and your timeline rather than selling you the biggest possible scope. If you are weighing up a project before a sale, we can help you work out where the budget goes furthest.
Frequently asked questions
1. Does landscaping add value to your home in Australia?
Yes, and the Australian data is unusually clear on this. The 2025 Plant Value Report, produced by Greener Spaces Better Places with Domain, analysed listing data and found houses marketed with greenery sold for 17.4 per cent more nationally, around $140,000 on the combined capital city median. Units with greenery achieved 16.1 per cent more. Listings with greenery also attracted about 7 per cent more buyer views and sold slightly faster. The uplift varies by market and by how well the work is done.
2. How much value does landscaping add to a house in Sydney?
Sydney records the strongest green premium in the country. The Plant Value Report found Sydney houses marketed with greenery achieved 28.7 per cent higher prices, an average of about $401,500 more, while units achieved 23.4 per cent, roughly $185,000 more. The report suggests this reflects how much buyers value greenery in dense urban markets where it is scarce. Results depend on the property, the suburb and the quality of the landscaping.
3. What landscaping adds the most value?
The highest returns usually come from simple, visible work rather than expensive features. A healthy lawn with tidy edges, fresh mulch on garden beds, clean paths and paving, established trees and screening, and a usable deck or paved entertaining area all rank well. In Australia, decking commonly returns a large share of its cost because outdoor entertaining space is highly valued. Presentation matters more than expense, and buyers respond to spaces that look cared for and ready to use.
4. What landscaping does not add value?
Highly personal or high-maintenance features rarely return their cost. Koi ponds, themed gardens, elaborate outdoor kitchens, intricate formal hedging and large-scale regrading are common examples. Buyers tend to see these as future maintenance or as something they will need to remove. Anything that reflects a very specific taste narrows your buyer pool rather than widening it, which is the opposite of what you want at sale.
5. Can a bad garden reduce my property value?
Yes. Industry estimates put the impact of a neglected garden at roughly 5 to 15 per cent of value. Buyers mentally subtract what repairs will cost, then add a buffer for the inconvenience, and that calculation rarely favours the seller. An overgrown, patchy or unfinished outdoor area also signals that the rest of the property may have been neglected, which affects how buyers view the whole home before they walk inside.
6. What is the lowest maintenance landscaping?
The lowest maintenance approach combines hardy, drought-tolerant planting with well-chosen hard surfaces. Mass-planted natives such as lomandra, westringia and grevillea hold their shape with little pruning, mulched beds cut weeding and watering, and gravel or paving removes mowing from those areas entirely. Drip irrigation on a timer keeps everything alive without daily effort. Grouping plants by water needs and choosing low leaf-drop trees also reduces ongoing work.
7. What are the 7 principles of landscape design?
The seven commonly cited principles are unity, balance, proportion or scale, transition, rhythm or repetition, focalisation, and simplicity. For value purposes the useful ones are repetition and simplicity, because repeating a small plant palette and keeping the design uncluttered reads as considered rather than busy. That is also what photographs well, which matters more than most sellers expect given how many buyers form their first impression online.
8. Can ChatGPT or AI create a landscape design?
AI tools are useful for early inspiration, plant shortlists and rough concepts, and they can help you clarify what you want before speaking to a designer. What they cannot do is assess your soil, levels, drainage, orientation and council requirements, or take responsibility for a plan that has to be built. For work intended to add value before a sale, a designer or experienced landscaper who has seen your site will produce a far more reliable result.
