Property Values

Close proximity to a cluster of industrial wind turbines has been shown to cause a severe decrease in residential property values. In other states, homes located within 2 miles of an industrial wind park have incurred a decrease in value between 20 – 45%. In fact, 12 homes located within a 36 turbine cluster in Canada have become unmarketable, forcing the owners to abandon their homes due to the noise, shadow flicker, and health related impacts of the turbines.

Values in the Wind: A Hedonic Analysis of Wind Power Facilities. Clarkson University Assistant Professor, Martin D. Heintzelman, has just released his comprehensive review of the impact industrial wind turbines have upon property values. The study, which was just completed in March 2011, provides clear evidence that homeowners in close proximity to an industrial wind turbine can expect to see the value of their home drop significantly.

Mike McCann’s response to the Clarkston University Study:

Having read the Clarkston University study, I find it compelling for 3 basic reasons:

1) It is a hedonic model which seems to be favored by industry, so it is a level field in that regard, and

2) It was not funded by any pro or anti wind group, sponsors, stakeholders or beneficiaries, and

3)The large data set is also perfectly consistent with devaluation shown by individual case studies, difference in simple average sale prices for near-far property sales, and the repeat sales analyzed in Clarkston eliminate the errors from using divergent property variable sale data.

The Study is clearly not “anti-wind”, yet the conclusions demonstrate the lack of wind project compliance with typical zoning special use standards, which require no adverse or significant impact on neighboring property values.

As a licensed professional appraiser and a Certified Review Appraiser, I endorse this study as an unbiased and reliable advisory document, for any community facing a wind project siting decision. Clearly, compensation and/or value guarantees for property owners within 3 miles are warranted. On balance, I cannot professionally endorse the (2009, Hoen LBNL or 2010, Hinman ISU) conclusions that industry often cites, as both were funded by industry and/or omit sale data that indicates conclusions that are consistent with the Clarkston University property value study.

Respectfully,
Michael S. McCann, CRA
McCann Appraisal, LLC
500 North Michigan Avenue, Suite # 300
Chicago, Illinois 60611

Below is a report from certified real estate appraiser Mike McCann regarding the impact of industrial wind turbines upon residential property values:

McCann Appraisal, LLC written testimony re Setbacks & property values June 8 2010 (1)

In this report, Mike McCann debunks the Berkeley Labs study (used by developers) regarding the impact of industrial wind turbines on residential property values.

McCann Review of Berkeley Study

Here’s Mike McCann speaking at the IICC seminar in Blissfield, MI:

2012, Wayne Gulden wrote an analysis about discrepancies between Hoen’s and Sunak’s studies.

“Ben Hoen was the lead author of the LBNL study “The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values in the United States: A Multi-Site Hedonic Analysis“.  This Hoen 2009 study remains the largest ever undertaken, with nearly 7500 properties.  It found:  “Specifically, 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“.  Hoen is the primary study quoted by wind energy proponents to rebut the common-sense notion that the nuisance created by nearby wind turbines will lower home prices.  This study is not without its problems…”

Please read the entirety of Gulden’s commentary, “A Nail for Hoen’s Coffin,”

Here’s the Sunak study:

The Impact of Wind Farms on Property Values: A Geographically Weighted Hedonic Pricing Model
Yasin Sunak and Reinhard Madlener
May 2012