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

<strong>The</strong>se results are corroborated by the Continuous Distance Model, which finds no statistically
significant relationship between an inverse DISTANCE function and sales prices (-0.01, sig
0.46). Similarly, in the Repeat Sales Model, homes within one mile <strong>of</strong> the nearest turbine are not
found to be adversely affected; somewhat counter-intuitively, they are found to appreciate faster
(0.03, p value 0.01) than their peers outside <strong>of</strong> five miles. Finally, the Sales Volume analysis
does not find significant and consistent results that would suggest that the ability to sell one’s
home within one mile <strong>of</strong> a wind facility is substantially impacted by the presence <strong>of</strong> that facility.
Taken together, these models present a consistent set <strong>of</strong> results: the sales prices <strong>of</strong> homes in this
sample that are within a mile <strong>of</strong> wind turbines, where various nuisance effects have been posited,
are not measurably affected compared to those homes that are located more than five miles away
from the facilities or that sold well before the wind projects were announced. <strong>The</strong>se results
imply that widespread Nuisance Stigma effects are either not present in the sample, or are too
small or sporadic to be statistically identifiable.
Though these results may appear counterintuitive, it may simply be that property value impacts
fade rapidly with distance, and that few <strong>of</strong> the homes in the sample are close enough to the
subject wind facilities to be substantially impacted. As discussed earlier, studies <strong>of</strong> the property
value impacts <strong>of</strong> high voltage transmission lines <strong>of</strong>ten find that effects fade towards zero at as
little distance as 200 feet (see, e.g., Gallimore and Jayne, 1999; Watson, 2005). None <strong>of</strong> the
homes in the present sample are closer than 800 feet to the nearest wind turbine, and all but eight
homes are located outside <strong>of</strong> 1000 feet <strong>of</strong> the nearest turbine. It is therefore possible that, if any
effects do exist, they exist at very close range to the turbines, and that those effects are simply
not noticeable outside <strong>of</strong> 800 feet. Additionally, almost half <strong>of</strong> the homes in the sample that are
located within a mile <strong>of</strong> the nearest turbine have either no view or a minor rated view <strong>of</strong> the wind
facilities, and some high voltage transmission line (HVTL) studies have found a decrease in
adverse effects if the towers are not visible (Des-Rosiers, 2002) and, similarly, decreases in
annoyance with wind facility sounds if turbines cannot be seen (Pedersen and Waye, 2004).
Finally, effects that existed soon after the announcement or construction <strong>of</strong> the wind facilities
might have faded over time. More than half <strong>of</strong> the homes in the sample sold more than three
years after the commencement <strong>of</strong> construction, while studies <strong>of</strong> HVTLs have repeatedly found
that effects fade over time (Kroll and Priestley, 1992) and studies <strong>of</strong> attitudes towards wind
turbines have found that such attitudes <strong>of</strong>ten improve after facility construction (Wolsink, 1989).
Regardless <strong>of</strong> the explanation, the fact remains that, in this sizable sample <strong>of</strong> residential
transactions, no persuasive evidence <strong>of</strong> a widespread Nuisance Stigma is found, and if these
impacts do exist, they are either too small or too infrequent to result in any widespread and
consistent statistically observable impact.
74