5g property value concerns

Documentation in the articles linked below show up to a 20% drop in value can occur for a property with a cell tower on or near the property. 

Industry research indicates that over 90% of home buyers and renters are less interested in properties near cell towers and would pay less for a property with a cell tower nearby. 

Certain states specifically list cell towers and antenna on the sellers disclosure forms. 

“Cell Tower Antennas Problematic for Buyers” published in  REALTOR® Magazine:

• An overwhelming 94 percent of home buyers and renters surveyed by the National Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy (NISLAPP) say they are less interested and would pay less for a property located near a cell tower or antenna.

• The NISLAPP survey echoes the findings of a study by Sandy Bond of the New Zealand Property Institute and past president of the Pacific Rim Real Estate Society (PRRES). “The Impact of Cell Phone Towers on House Prices in Residential Neighborhoods,” which was published in The Appraisal Journal in 2006, found that buyers would pay as much as 20 percent less for a property near a cell tower or antenna.

 “Impact of Communication Towers and Equipment on Nearby Property Values” 

prepared by Burgoyne Appraisal Company, March 7, 2017

“In 32 years of experience as a Real Estate Appraiser specializing in detrimental conditions, takings, adverse impacts and right-of-way, I have found that aesthetics (or rather the adverse impact on aesthetics) of externalities routinely has the largest impact on property values. As a result, proximity to towers of all types (cell, wind turbine, and electric transmission) has an impact on property values. The same is true with all sorts of surface installations such as pump stations and communication equipment boxes. This would apply to new small cell and DAS equipment, although again, one would expect that the less intrusive the facility, the less significant the impact. Small cell and DAS installations can be unsightly, bulky, inconsistent, and even noisy.”

Read the letter from National Realtors Assoc to FCC

Highlights from this  letter include:

“A coalition of real estate groups, including NAR, the National Multifamily Housing Council, the National Apartment Association, and the Institute of Real Estate Management, among others, submitted a letter to the FCC expressing concern over its proposed rule regarding over-the-air reception devices. The coalition says the rule could make it easier for antennas and other devices to be placed on properties without the owners’ consent. The coalition flagged these two potential issues:

• The rule could allow residential or commercial tenants to install a 5G small cell or other wireless infrastructure on a balcony or within a leased space to boost individual coverage and also transmit a signal to other customers of the telecom provider.
• The rule could allow a telecom carrier who already leases rooftop space from a property owner (for antennas or other equipment) to be able to attach a 5G small cell or other wireless infrastructure on that existing equipment without having to change their agreement with the property owner.
• “The real estate associations strongly support the deployment of broadband infrastructure of all kinds because apartment residents, commercial tenants, and their customers need and want the service that the infrastructure supports,” the coalition wrote in its letter to the FCC. “With the rise of e-commerce, changes in how consumers access media, and our ever-increasing reliance on the Internet for basic functions, broadband connectivity is a top priority for the industry.”
•   “The real estate associations believe strongly the marketplace is working, and so we urge the Commission to avoid measures that could prove counterproductive, and thereby harm investment, constrain competition, and limit consumer access to broadband service. We are also concerned that inopportune regulation could raise the cost of developing multifamily housing and commercial real estate.”

Journal of Real Estate Finance & Economics, May 2018 found that properties that were in the visibility range or a cell tower declined in value nearly 10%

Read section 6409 (a) here.