what happens to property values when a solar farm is near

The difference that experience makes when it comes to the perceived and bodily impacts of solar on nearby property values. In recent years, publicity surrounding solar farms has gained the attention of property owners and appraisers. As with any large-scale development, the alter represented by utility-scale solar tin be cause for business organization. Naysayers express worries involving impacts to viewshed, drainage problems, the thought of replacing productive agricultural lands with an industrial apply, and more. Much of this worry comes back to i thing: the potential bear on on belongings values.

A recently completed study from the University of Rhode Island looked at 400,000 transactions in New England over the grade of xv years, finding that suburban residential property values suffered negative impacts when nearby solar farms replaced resources perceived every bit scarce, such equally green infinite. On the other hand, this same written report plant no associated touch on on property values for solar farms located in rural areas.

Meanwhile, a survey by the University of Texas at Austin asked 37 appraisers a series of questions about property value impacts based upon proximity to utility-scale solar projects. On boilerplate, the surveyed appraisers believed that at that place was a negative human relationship between solar farms and nearby holding values, though the appraisers with strong negative opinions also answered "No" when asked whether they had prior experience assessing property located almost large solar installations. Dr. Varun Rai, who led the study, stated that the results "suggest that experience assessing near a solar installation is associated with a much less negative judge of affect." He besides noted that "the median and mode of all estimates of affect was zero, suggesting negative estimates from a few respondents were pulling down the mean."

Patricia McGarr, who serves every bit the National Director of CohnReznick Informational's Valuation Do, has conducted a number of belongings value impact studies involving solar, and spoke on the subject at the ASFMRA Illinois Chapter's Almanac Meeting in 2019. McGarr'due south studies found no consistent negative impact on residential property value that could be attributed to nearby solar farms. She too asserted that township and county assessors take tremendous amounts of information that point in the same management.

McGarr referenced the i,000-acre "North Star" solar project located in Chisago Canton, Minnesota. There, the county assessor found no agin impact on nearby holding values, noting, "It seems conclusive valuation hasn't suffered."

McGarr has attended many public hearings on proposed solar developments and listened to residents taking issue with the idea of putting good farm country out of production and potential impacts to viewsheds and drainage tiles. "Owners of transitional ag lands, or lands that are in the path of development, are concerned near whatsoever changes that could have hereafter impacts on sale values," she explained.

But McGarr believes solar developers are addressing these issues. It's now common practice for developers to include vegetative screening as a visual buffer between solar farms and adjacent properties to account for aesthetic concerns. In regards to drainage, developers are "conducting drainage tile studies and beingness vigilant […] and so that they don't reroute the drainage."

"Solar is an interim utilize," McGarr added. "There are no contaminants and the country sits fallow, allowing the soil quality to improve. Information technology's non like you lot're paving things over."

Donald Fisher, ARA, served six years as Chair of the ASFMRA's National Appraisal Review Committee and 19 years as Chair of the Editorial Committee. Donald is the Executive Vice President of CNY Pomeroy Appraisers, and has washed several market studies examining the affect of solar on surrounding residential values.

"Most of the locations were in either suburban or rural areas, and all of those studies constitute either a neutral impact or, ironically, a positive impact, where values on properties after the installation of solar farms went up higher than time trends," he explained.

According to Fisher, solar development has begun to compete with rural residential development and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) farmers seeking new acreage. "In certain markets," he said, "the solar developers are paying as much equally rural residential developers and CAFO farmers."

Howard Halderman, AFM, President and CEO of Halderman Existent Estate and Subcontract Management, attended a contempo solar talk hosted by the Indiana Affiliate of the ASFMRA. Halderman'due south takeaway was that properties immediately adjacent to a solar subcontract may meet a negative impact, simply tactics to hide the solar farm from view could aid showtime those furnishings.

Halderman believes that other rural backdrop would likely meet no affect, and farmers and landowners should even consider possible benefits. "In some cases, farmers who rent land to a solar visitor will insure the viability of their farming operation for a longer fourth dimension period. This makes them better long-term tenants or country buyers so one can argue that higher rents and land values will follow due to the positive economic bear upon the solar leases offer," he explained.

Rich Kirkland, who owns Kirkland Appraisals in Raleigh, N Carolina, began exploring solar a piddling over a decade ago, or as he puts information technology, "right around the whole recession flow, when solar really began to take off effectually here."

Since then, Kirkland has prepared property value impact studies for solar developers in nineteen states, performing nearly 100 matched-pair analyses along the way. In a large majority of those comparisons, he observed a -v% to v% difference in foursquare-foot sales prices, a range that he describes as statistically insignificant.

"If you take all of those matched-pairs and average them out, yous'll observe a divergence of almost 1%. That'southward not plenty to make a claim on," he says.

Similar to Halderman, Kirkland believes that bug can arise if a solar development is situated too close to a property, or if nothing is done to conceal it from view. However, he concluded, "In rural and suburban areas, I'chiliad not finding whatsoever consistent negative impact from solar farms as long as there'southward at least 100 anxiety between the [solar] farm and the property, and enough landscaping to hide the panels."

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Source: https://www.asfmra.org/blogs/asfmra-press/2021/02/16/solars-impact-on-land-values

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