U.S. shale energy production and impacts on house values: a basin-by-basin review

Abstract

Increased shale energy production benefits U.S. consumers and helps boost local and regional economies. However, the costs attributed to shale activity appear to be much more localized, prompting the question of whether shale activity benefits the local communities that bear its negative impacts. Previous conclusions on the impacts of shale activity on local house values have been mixed, leading to unclear implications for policymakers. This review aims to encapsulate the findings of previous works and provide a point of reference for future research. While past research results were mixed, we found that studies using property transaction data often showed negative impacts on house values, while those using broader county- or zip code-level data tended to find positive impacts. This difference suggests that shale development may have house-level negative effects due to proximity to shale energy activity, while broader levels of analysis tend to reflect the impact of local economic benefits on the mean house prices of shale-energy producing communities.