An unredacted draft Defra report into the economic effects impacts of drilling for shale has revealed that despite there not really being any evidence for it, houses near fracking wells could lose some value. The usual suspects are running “fracking likely to wipe 7% off house prices” headlines…

“Overall the evidence on impact on property prices in the literature is quite thin and the results are not conclusive. There could potentially be a range of 0 to 7% reductions in property values within 1 mile of an extraction site to reflect the impacts, where the high range reflects the top end of the Boxall et al (2005) estimate for the price fall.

Other redacted sections from the report that mysteriously didn’t warrant a mention in the Indy, Telegraph or Mirror include a warning that demand for accommodation near fracking sites could “raise rents and cause affordability issues for rural residents seeking accommodation“. A nice windmill near your house on the other hand…

UPDATE:

Analysis of Land Registry data by independent property consultants JLL shows that property prices were unaffected by two previous fracking sites in Lancashire.