The Effect of Wind Power Projects on Property Values: A Decade (2011-2021) of Hedonic Price Analysis

This essay is a review of the hedonic price literature examining the effect of wind power projects on property values. It covers 18 core studies done from 2011 to 2021. The studies include applications in Europe (10) and North America (8). The essay provides detailed tables summarizing the studies' data, methods, and results. It also includes recommendations for future work. Among the 18 core studies 13 find some evidence of net-negative impacts on property values with statistical significance. Of the studies done in Europe, all find net-negative impact. Only three of the eight North American studies find net-negative impact. Over time the studies have trended toward showing net-negative impact. As one might expect, the impacts are larger the closer a property is located to a wind power project. In 1km increments, beginning with less than 1 km, the average impact on property values across all core studies is 5.0%, 4.0%, -2.6%, and -1.2%. In the <1 km range 67% of the studies find net-negative effects. In the 3-4 km range, only 28% find net-negative effects and beyond 4 km effects are uncommon or diminishingly small. The variation of effects across the core studies within each 1 km band is large implying that context matters and transferring mean values requires caution. Among the studies finding net-negative effects on property values, the extent of the effect also tends to increase with the number and height of the turbines. The results are mixed on the effects in rural versus urban areas.