Spatial Hedonic Analysis of the Effects of US Wind Energy Facilities on Surrounding Property Values

Abstract

Rapid, large-scale U.S. deployment of wind turbines is expected to continue in the coming years. Because some of that deployment is expected to occur in relatively populous areas, concerns have arisen about the impact of turbines on nearby home values. Previous research on the effects of wind turbines on surrounding home values has been limited by small home-sale data samples and insufficient consideration of confounding home-value factors and spatial dependence. This study examines the largest set of turbine-proximal sales data to date: more than 50,000 home sales including 1,198 within 1 mile of a turbine (331 of which were within a half mile). The data span the periods well before announcement of the wind facilities to well after their construction. We use ordinary least squares and spatial-process difference-in-difference hedonic models to estimate the home-value impacts of the wind facilities, controlling for value factors existing prior to the wind facilities’ announcements, the spatial dependence of home values, and value changes over time. A series of robustness models provide greater confidence in the results. We find no statistical evidence that home values near turbines were affected in the turbine post-construction or post-announcement/pre-construction periods.