April 27, 2014
U.K.

Wind farms ‘knock thousands off house values’

By Scunthorpe Telegraph | Posted: April 27, 2014 | www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk

Large wind farms can lead to a fall in house prices of up to 12 per cent, a report has suggested.

The report carried out by the London School of Economics suggested that properties within a two kilometre radius would be affected.

It also suggested that smaller effects on prices could be felt even up to as much as 14 kilometres away from a wind farm.

The LSE survey, called Gone with the Wind: Valuing the Visual Impacts of Wind Turbines Through House Prices, concluded that “wind farm developments reduce prices in locations where the turbines are visible, relative to where they are not visible, and that the effects are causal”.

However, Nicola Burnie, of Scunthorpe’s William H Brown, said she did not believe this was the case in North Lincolnshire.

“The wind farms are generally away from the main housing developments so I don’t feel it reflects on property prices in the area, unless they are in the immediate vicinity to a property,” she said.

“At the moment, I don’t feel that the windfarms are close enough to the properties to reflect on the house prices.

“They are becoming more popular, but I don’t think it has ever affected the valuation of a property to date.”

However, Nicola said the proximity of a windfarm would be a consideration of a prospective homeowner.

A separate report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) gave a contrasting view.

The CEBR report suggested there was negative impact on house prices even within a five kilometre radius of a wind farm or an individual wind turbine.

It said that many turbines were concealed by nearby buildings, trees and the natural landscape so had no or little effect on house values.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/04/27/wind-farms-knock-thousands-off-house-values/