Content © Stopwoodlanewindfarm 2008 - 2011
Common sense says :-
If you paid a premium for a home in a quiet rural location with a nice view would you still pay the same price if you could see and hear wind turbines close by? Common sense says no.
Denmark has a compensation scheme for home owners who suffer a loss of property value caused by wind turbines. There would be no such scheme if there wasn’t a problem.
In the UK it is known that property values are reduced by electricity pylons. There are specialist agents who negotiate compensation claims - try an Internet search. It is inconceivable that pylons reduce values while turbines, twice as high, do not.
We know of house sales near Woodlane which fell through when purchasers found out about the wind farm proposal. A local Estate Agent advised one resident to expect a 20% fall if the wind farm was approved. The only way to sell when buyers are put off by a wind farm is to reduce the price.
The British Wind Energy Association ( BWEA) have “Wind farms reduce house prices” as the first of 7 myths which they claim to dispel in their facts sheet issued in September 2009. Please read their facts sheet and the studies to which they refer and then apply your own common sense to it.
In order to meet Government targets for wind power the turbines will have to be built ever closer to homes. It is in the interest of the Government to support the argument that wind turbines do not reduce property prices.
How homes near wind farms lose value
Reports from around the world where people have experienced serious loss of property value which they attribute to the proximity of large wind turbines.
Its not just in the UK where this is a problem, there are similar reports from the USA, Canada and New Zealand.
The surveys - How wind farms affect house prices
A theme in the conclusions of several of them is “On one hand prices are reduced close to wind turbines but on the other hand there is no clear relationship with distance”
Welcome to the world of inconsistency - while estate agents say the main price determinant is - “Location, location, location” these reports say a view of turbines does not matter. Other reports, sometimes by the same people say that it is proven that pylons reduce property values - pylons are less than half the size of turbines.
In some early research 60% of estate agents interviewed said house prices were reduced by proximity to a wind farm. This was their opinion. More recent research has used actual sale prices but might include sales 10 miles (16km) from a wind farm. These surveys will not include homes which have not sold due to the turbines or which have been withdrawn from the market after receiving no offers.
Estimated £1 million hit for villagers
A resident of one of the villages close to Woodlane was informed by his Estate Agent to expect a 20% fall in value if the wind farm was approved.
We used a lower percentage reduction and worked out the financial loss across the four villages within 2km. On the assumption that there are 10 homes with a value of £500k and that these might lose 10%, 20 homes worth £300k and that these might lose 7% plus 20 worth £200k and that these might lose 5% the total loss of equity value would be over £1M.
There are many more homes in the area and some of them are worth far more than £500k so the loss could be much higher.
While the percentage drop may be open to question (it could be an underestimate) the calculation shows the scale of the loss that a small community could suffer. Even if the percentage is small it soon mounts up to become a large sum.
It is not surprising that there is reluctance by the Government and the wind industry to accept that a problem exists. Compensation costs could run into millions.
The Impact of wind farms on property values.
A 100m turbine 820m from the houses.
Guide notes
Further information
House prices and Planning
While the value of their property is of major concern to homeowners it is not actually a planning consideration. In other words planners will not take it into account when deciding whether to approve plans for a wind farm.
Expect the worst impact closer than 5km
A wind turbines is described in Planning literature as “Likely to be a prominent feature” when closer than 2km. Out to 5km they are expected to be “Relatively prominent” according to Government planning guidance. Any studies of the impact on house prices should therefore concentrate on distances less than 5km.
Pay greatest attention to homes closer than 2km
If a study includes sales to 10km then only 4% of the houses would be within 2km and 75% of homes would be more than 5km away. Any impact on house prices close by will be masked by those further away which are much less likely to be affected.
Watch the market
The real question that everybody wants answered is what will be the impact on my house. The next best is what will be impact on houses near to mine.
Watch the market and see how well houses in your area sell.
See if they are withdrawn from sale and rented out.
Listen for reports of sales falling through because buyer found out about the wind farm and decided to go elsewhere.
These are all symptoms that the market is responding adversely to the threat of a wind farm or to the presence of a wind farm.
The Crystal Rig Survey - Click here
A detailed survey of house prices and a wind farm. But the houses are 7 miles away - see how this compares with Woodlane where one home has 10 turbines closer than 1 mile.
This survey concluded that there was no impact on prices caused by the wind farm. With the turbines 7 miles away we would not expect an impact. We are concerned about large numbers of higher turbines as close as 500metres.