Do wind farms affect house prices?
There is no evidence to date to show a negative trend in property values amongst properties close to wind farms. According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, there are no studies that suggest an effect either way, but at Nympsfield in Gloucestershire house prices continued to gain after plans for the turbine were announced in 1992 and have continued to rise since the turbine began operating in 1997. Wilcon Homes, who have developed housing close to an operating wind farm – Taff Ely – in south Wales, have no reservations about the effect of the presence of the turbines. According to David Swithenbank, Sales Manager for the development, “The windmills have not affected people wanting to buy homes; they are selling very well and no purchasers have expressed a problem with the turbines.” A recently commissioned poll carried out by Robertson Bell Associates, an independent market research agency and a member of the Association of British Market Research Companies, found that:
