Economic Impacts & Property Values

PILOT’s need to pass the benefits test
Perry White
Watertown Daily Times
…Take a hypothetical wind project that has its taxes reduced by $20 million over its life (and in reality, this is probably low) and provides 10 full-time jobs. Even at an average wage of $40,000 per year, given actual take-home pay and the uncertain nature of local impact (all the employees are unlikely to live in the same town and school district, for example), it hardly seems like a fair trade…

1/8/17
Why does Ontario’s electricity cost so much? A reality check
Adrian Morrow and Tom Cardoso
The Globe and Mail
Ultimately, the province built more plants than it actually needed… At the same time, demand for electricity in the province fell, partly because of the recession and the long-term upheaval in the manufacturing sector and partly because of government efforts to encourage Ontarians to conserve power. So the province has a massive surplus of generating capacity, but because much of it is tied up in private, 20-year contracts, Ontarians have to pay for all that electricity – whether they need it or not.

9/23/15
Do Wind Turbines Lower Property Values?
Forbes
Jude Clemente
Many members of the Real Estate and Appraisal businesses, however, have been clear that wind power DOES impact property values, and it would seem to me that these groups have no vested interest in supporting wind power or not supporting it. So, these findings are critical.

4/10/15
Grassroots Property Value website with links and articles
On this site you will be able to easily access worldwide information about property loss, income stream losses, homes abandoned, and related economic losses due to proximity to industrial wind turbines. It is clear that the phenomenon of property loss is widespread, real, and verified by many experts. The tragedy is compounded by lives shattered by the loss of their principal home/residence/farm/land, often a complete loss, as a sale is not even possible.

11/29/14
Do Wind Projects Adversely Affect Proximate Residential Property Values? (pdf)
John Droz
Document with links to studies showing property value impact of industrial wind turbines.

“The most basic law of economics is that things are valued based on the “Law of Supply and Demand.” It is exceedingly obvious, all things being equal, that many people (due to view, sound, flicker, etc) would choose NOT to buy a home where there are industrial wind turbines close by.”

1/25/14
Proof wind turbines take thousands off your home: Value of houses within 1.2 miles of large wind farms slashed by 11%, study finds
Daily Mail.com
Sanchez Manning
The study by the London School of Economics (LSE) – which looked at more than a million sales of properties close to wind farm sites over a 12-year period – found that values of homes within 1.2  miles of large wind farms were being slashed by about 11 per cent.

8/1/12 (New York State study)
Values in the Wind: A Hedonic Analysis of Wind Power Facilities
Land Economics
Heintzelman, Tuttle
2011 draft available here (link is external). This paper uses data on 11,331 property transactions over nine years in northern New York State to explore the effects of new wind facilities on property values. They find that nearby wind facilities significantly reduce property values in two of the three counties studied. These results indicate that existing compensation to local homeowners/communities may not be sufficient to prevent a loss of property values.

6/30/2011
McCann Appraisal LLC June 20 2011 Review of Cape Vincent Committee EIR
McCann
I concur with the conclusions indicated in the EIR that a significant risk is represented by the proposed wind turbine projects, as a large portion of the value base is located within a few miles of the proposed turbines. Waterfront property and property with prime views and vistas are particularly vulnerable to higher dollar loss, if not the percentage of value, since many waterfront homes are second homes or retirement homes, and buyers/owners are not motivated by local employment trends. While the impacts may take years to be fully documented and the loss of tax revenue to become manifest, the underlying value loss sets the stage for a serious disruption of normal governmental operations, funding and resolution of assessment appeals by those adversely impacted by the turbines.

12/30/10
Hammond Panel Adopts Home Guarantee
The Journal (Ogdensburg, NY)
Matt McAlaster
The committee voted 9 to 1 Tuesday evening – with committee member and leaseholder, Michele W. McQueer, casting the lone dissenting vote – to adopt the controversial Residential Property Value Guarantee (RPVG) as a suggestion to the town board. In a recent letter from Iberdrola Renewables to the committee, Mark Epstein, Esq., senior counsel, wrote, “We believe that if the Committee chooses to pursue the RPVG, it will prevent any development of wind power facilities in Hammond.”

2010
Wind turbines & property values
Appraisal Group One
Kielisch
Impact studies suggest the values are substantially negatively impacted in the range of -12% to -40%. P. 17.

1/2016 (New York State study)
Exploring the impact of the proposed Galloo Island energy project ,
Nanos Clarkson University Research Collaboration
Heintzelman, Bird, Olson, Nanos, Kolundzic
We see in these projections that the average home is expected to lose between 11.77% and 12.77% of its value if the Galloo Island turbines are built. Importantly, however, this average includes homes both with and without a view. Homes with a view will face the bulk of the value loss. In aggregate, this analysis suggests a total value loss for the Town of Henderson of between $39.8M and $43.2M. P.13.

1/4/14
Gone with the Wind: Valuing the Visual Impacts of Wind turbines through House Prices
Stephen Gibbons
All these comparisons suggest that wind farm visibility reduces local house prices, and the implied visual environmental costs are substantial.

8/1/12 (New York State study)
Values in the Wind: A Hedonic Analysis of Wind Power Facilities
Land Economics
Heintzelman, Tuttle
2011 draft available here (link is external). This paper uses data on 11,331 property transactions over nine years in northern New York State to explore the effects of new wind facilities on property values. They find that nearby wind facilities significantly reduce property values in two of the three counties studied. These results indicate that existing compensation to local homeowners/communities may not be sufficient to prevent a loss of property values.

2009
Wind_Power & Property Values

A PowerPoint presentation by Kirt C. Kielisch, Appraiser
Forensic Appraisal Group, Ltd
So, do wind turbines affect property values? Well, it depends. In most cases, yes, they do. Our research has shown that when a property’s value depends on the viewshed, wind turbines negatively affect property value. That just makes sense. If someone buys a property for its beautiful view, but now that view is filled with wind turbines, it’s going to affect the appeal and thus the value of that property.

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