F Review of the Impact of Wind Farms on Property Values 21 July 2016 URBIS STAFF RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS REPORT WERE: Director Clinton Ostwald & David Blackwell Associate Director Alex Stuart Senior Consultant Ryan McKenzie Consultant Bruce Yeung Job Code EMR0453 Report Number Final DISCLAIMER This report was prepared by Urbis Pty Ltd in good faith exercising all due care and attention, but no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to the relevance, accuracy, completeness or fitness for purpose of this document in respect of any particular user’s circumstances. Users of this document should satisfy themselves concerning its application to, and where necessary seek expert advice in respect of, their situation. The views expressed within are not necessarily the views of the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and may not represent OEH policy. Please read the full Urbis disclaimer on page 68. © Copyright State of NSW and the Office of Environment and Heritage Urbis Pty Ltd ABN 50 105 256 228 URBIS Australia Asia Middle East urbis.com.au TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive summary .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. i Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Phase 1 – Literature review and market research ................................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Phase 2 – Case study preparation ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Phase 3 – Assessment of value impact drivers..................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Phase 4 – Conclusions and recommendations ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 1 Wind farms in Australia .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Industry background .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.2 The Australian context ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Wind farms in NSW ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 2 Literature review assessment .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 13 2.1 Discussion on the literature review .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 3 Wind farm case study assessment ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Approach ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 17 3.2 Results of the transaction analysis .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 4 Findings .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 20 4.1 Key finding of the study ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 4.2 Attributes that may affect value ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 4.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 5 References ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 Disclaimer .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 68 Appendix - A Research plan ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 Appendix - B Literature review ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 24 Appendix C - Case studies ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 URBIS RPT-WIND FARM VALUE IMPACTS-OEH-210716 - FINAL.DOCX Executive summary The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) commissioned Urbis to turbines, noting that wind farms in NSW have been constructed in undertake an investigation into the potential impact of wind farm predominantly rural areas. developments on property prices in NSW. This study follows on from the 2009 NSW Valuer-General’s assessment of the impact of wind farms on In undertaking this assessment, we encountered limitations in the availability property values. of sales transactions around wind farms in NSW, and some inconsistency in results showing how properties performed relative to the broader market. The current study included: The limited number of sales transactions over a 15-year period from 2000 to 2015 is typical of rural and rural residential areas, which have a relatively . a literature review of existing reports and papers on the impact of wind low population density and larger individual properties. farms on property values, both in Australia and overseas The literature review of Australian and international studies on the impact of . preparation of six case studies in NSW and Victoria, including analysis wind farms on property values revealed that the majority of published reports of sales data of properties near wind farms over the past 15 years to conclude that there is no impact or a limited definable impact of wind farms identify any differences between wind farm impacted properties and the on property values. Those studies which identified a negative impact are broader property sales market based in the northern hemisphere and are associated with countries with higher population densities and a greater number of traditional residential . a synthesis of the findings from the literature review and data analysis and lifestyle properties affected by wind farms. This is generally contrary to phases to pinpoint key drivers that may impact the value of land around the Australian experience, with most wind farms being located in low wind farm developments. population density environments that derive the majority of their value from productive farming purposes. There is insufficient sales data to provide a definitive answer to the question of whether wind farm development in NSW impacts on surrounding land Changes in the circumstances of future wind farm developments that may values utilising statistically robust quantitative analysis techniques. warrant future additional studies into value change include: Therefore, the study was based on the best available data and traditional . development of wind farms near urban centres such as towns and valuation sales analysis techniques to compare the change in values around villages that may have direct impacts on the residential amenity of these wind farms over time and qualitative information