College Station – Do overhead power lines impact the values of residential homes? Ask a buyer, a seller and an appraiser and receive three different answers. Should their opinions enter the thought process of a prospective buyer or seller of a home that is near or under power lines?

"A Minnesota survey of four defined groups (homeowners of property with overhead power lines, sellers of property with overhead power lines, buyers of property near overhead power lines and residential appraisers), showed 51 percent of homeowners with overhead power lines did not consider the high voltage power lines or towers at the time of purchase," says Ted C. Jones in a recent issue of Tierra Grande magazine, a journal of the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

According to Jones, one-third of the respondents lowered their offering price. The average reduction was 4.1 percent, based on an average purchase price of $135,629. Almost two-thirds said the power lines did not enter into their offering price decision.

According to the study, 50 percent of those that sold a home with overhead power lines said the property’s market value was adversely affected. Two-thirds of the sellers indicated that a longer market time was required for the property to sell.

"Half of homeowners near overhead power lines did not consider homes with overhead power lines," says Jones, vice president and chief economist with Stewart Title Guaranty Company.

"Forty-four percent said they would have lowered their offering by an average of 7.6 percent if the home they had purchased had been within 200 yards of overhead power lines."

More than 83 percent of residential appraisers indicate a negative influence on property market value arising from the lines, with an estimated average of 4.1 percent reduction in value for homes with high-voltage overhead power lines. Each respondent appraised an average of 54 residential properties near overhead power lines. A similar 84 percent indicate an average 62 days longer marketing period for residential homes affected by power lines.

Researchers at St. Cloud State University found that all groups acknowledge a negative impact of power lines on residential values. Homeowners near power lines and appraisers alike conclude 4.1 percent average negative impact.