NO HOME VALUE HARM FROM WIND

The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values in the United States: A Multi-Site Hedonic Analysis
Ben Hoen, Ryan Wiser, Peter Cappers, Mark Thayer, and Gautam Sethi, December 2009 (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

"Wind power development in the United States has expanded dramatically in recent years...[I]t will require an ever-increasing number of wind power projects to be sited, permitted, and constructed...[with] some form of environmental impact assessment as well as public involvement in the siting process. Though public opinion surveys generally show that acceptance towards wind energy is high, a variety of concerns with wind power development are often expressed on the local level...One such concern is the potential impact of wind energy projects on the property values of nearby residences.

"Concerns about the possible impact of wind power facilities on residential property values can take many forms, but can be divided into...[3] non-mutually exclusive categories:…Area Stigma: A concern that the general area surrounding a wind energy facility will appear more developed…Scenic Vista Stigma: A concern that a home may be devalued because of the view of a wind energy facility, and the potential impact of that view on an otherwise scenic vista…Nuisance Stigma: A concern that factors that may occur in close proximity to wind turbines, such as sound and shadow flicker, will have a unique adverse influence on home values…"

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"…[In] the available literature...no persuasive evidence of any of the three potential stigmas: neither the view of the wind facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities is found to have any consistent, measurable, and statistically significant effect on home sales prices.

"…To investigate Area Stigma, the model tests whether the sales prices of homes
situated anywhere outside of one mile and inside of five miles of the nearest wind facility are measurably different from the sales price of those homes located outside of five miles. No statistically significant differences in sales prices between these homes are found…"

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"…For Scenic Vista Stigma…when the model tests for whether homes with minor, moderate, substantial, or extreme views of wind turbines have measurably different sales prices, no statistically significant differences are apparent…

"…Finally, for Nuisance Stigma, the model is used to test whether the sales prices of homes situated inside of one mile of the nearest wind energy facility are measurably different from those homes located outside of five miles…[T]he model again finds no persuasive statistical evidence that wind facilities measurably and broadly impact residential sales prices…"