The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values ...

7. Sales Volume Analysis
<strong>The</strong> analysis findings to this point suggest that, among the sample <strong>of</strong> sales transactions analyzed
in this report, wind facilities have had no widespread and statistically identifiable impact on
residential property values. A related concern that has not yet been addressed is that <strong>of</strong> sales
volume: does the presence <strong>of</strong> wind facilities either increase or decrease the rate <strong>of</strong> home sales
transactions? On the one hand, a decrease in sales volumes might be expected. This might occur
if homeowners expect that their property values will be impacted by the presence <strong>of</strong> the wind
facility, and therefore simply choose not to sell their homes as a result, or if they try to sell but
are not easily able to find willing buyers. Alternatively, an increase in sales volume might be
expected if homeowners that are located near to or have a dominating view <strong>of</strong> wind turbines are
uncomfortable with the presence <strong>of</strong> those turbines. Though those homes may sell at a market
value that is not impacted by the presence <strong>of</strong> the wind facilities, self-selection may lead to
accelerated transaction volumes shortly after facility announcement or construction as
homeowners who view the turbines unfavorably sell their homes to individuals who are not so
stigmatized. To address the question <strong>of</strong> whether and how sales volumes are impacted by nearby
wind facilities, sales volumes are analyzed for those homes located at various distances from the
wind facilities in the sample, during different facility development periods.
7.1. Dataset
To investigate whether sales volumes are affected by the presence <strong>of</strong> wind facilities two sets <strong>of</strong>
data are assembled: (1) the number <strong>of</strong> homes available to sell annually within each study area,
and (2) the number <strong>of</strong> homes that actually did sell annually in those areas. Homes potentially
“available to sell” are defined as all single family residences within five miles <strong>of</strong> the nearest
turbine that are located on a parcel <strong>of</strong> land less than 25 acres in size, that have only one
residential structure, and that had a market value (for land and improvements) above $10,000. 95
Homes that “did sell” are defined as every valid sale <strong>of</strong> a single family residence within five
miles <strong>of</strong> the nearest turbine that are located on a parcel <strong>of</strong> land less than 25 acres in size, that
have only one residential structure, and that sold for more than $10,000.
<strong>The</strong> sales data used for this analysis are slightly different from those used in the hedonic analysis
reported earlier. As mentioned in Section 3.3, a number <strong>of</strong> study areas were randomly sampled
to limit the transactions outside <strong>of</strong> 3 miles if the total number <strong>of</strong> transactions were to exceed that
which could efficiently be visited in the field (n ~1,250). For the sales volume analysis, however,
field data collection was not required, and all relevant transactions could therefore be used.
Secondly, two study areas did not provide the data necessary for the sales volume analysis
(WAOR and OKCC), and are therefore excluded from the sample. Finally, data for some homes
that were “available to sell” were not complete, and rather than including only a small selection
<strong>of</strong> these homes, these subsets <strong>of</strong> data were simply excluded from the analysis. <strong>The</strong>se excluded
homes include those located outside <strong>of</strong> five miles <strong>of</strong> the nearest wind turbine, and those available
to sell or that did sell more than three years before wind facility announcement. 96 <strong>The</strong> resulting
95 “Market value” is the estimated price at which a home would sell as <strong>of</strong> a given point in time.
96 For instance, some providers supplied sales data out to ten miles, but only provided homes available to sell out to
five miles. As well, data on homes that did sell were not consistently available for periods many years before
announcement.
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