No Impact on Home Values near Wind Turbines

One of the major issues of concern by a small minority of neighbors who live within three-quarters of a mile of the municipal wind turbines has been a drop in their property values as a result of turbine operation.  As John Carlton Foss’s letter titled, “Path For Moving Forward,” printed in the August 27, 2013 edition of The Falmouth Enterprise and especially in the context that recent home sale prices in Falmouth are still 10% to 20% percent below the peak in 2005 as reported on September 1, 2013 in the Boston Globe, 114 Ambleside Drive sold on July 25, 2013 for $423,400 or 7.5% higher than its assessed value of $394,300.  That property is 1520 feet from Wind 2 and is one of the closest homes to the municipal turbines in Falmouth.

This good news in Falmouth has been reinforced by a comprehensive study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on home values and impacts upon them by nearby wind turbines in the United States.   That study included an analysis of 50,000 home sales from around 67 wind farm facilities in 27 counties in nine states including 1,198 home sales within one mile.  The findings found no evidence that wind farms had adverse impacts on home values.  See <http://tinyurl.com/windhomevalues> for the August 2013 LBNL report.   

All of this new information should be a relief to those in Falmouth living near the municipal turbines who were concerned about possible loss in the investment value of their homes.  It should also greatly allay fears about adverse health impacts from wind turbines; for, if such impacts including the possibility of wind turbines causing a nuisance were significant, those factors would be reflected in the referenced study to show a decline in the value of nearby homes in the vicinity of wind turbines.  Again, the study found no evidence of a decline in value of those homes.  Also, concerning perceived health issues and wind turbines, the short video by Dr. Simon Chapman, a public health specialist, should be of interest --http://tinyurl.com/chapmanwindhealth.

These facts should be of great interest to the Board of Selectmen as it moves forward in its deliberations over future operation of the turbines.

A version of this blog was first published as a letter in The Falmouth Enterprise on September 6, 2013.