According to a recent study by the University of Connecticut and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, having a wind turbine near a home has little effect on the home’s value. The study examined 122,000 home sales between 1998 and 2012 that occurred near the current or future locations of 41 turbines in densely populated Massachusetts communities.
After controlling for market inflation/ deflation, it found that home prices within a half mile from a wind facility were a statistically insignificant 0.5% higher than they were two years before plans for the facility were announced. The largest effect on home prices seems to occur after plans for the facility are announced, but before construction has finished. During this period, home prices decreased 2.3%, although the study also considers this a “non-significant difference” and finds the evidence that a wind facility announcement reduced home prices “weak.”
The study was funded by Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind & Water Power Program.
