Report Says Airports Don’t Hit Home Prices

A pro-El Toro airport group on Wednesday dropped the latest salvo in the war over the proposed airfield when it released a report suggesting home values wouldn’t be hurt by commercial jets overhead.

That finding came under immediate fire from airport opponents and others, including the Orange County Assn. of Realtors, a South County-based group that initially participated in the study but dropped out last month after reading its conclusions.

“Ninety percent of the clients and sellers I work with are against the airport,� said Jan Herkelrath, the group’s past director. “This is not a complete picture. . . .�

The report, commissioned by the Orange County Business Council, was released less than three weeks before Orange County voters will be asked to pass judgment on Measure F, an initiative that would require two-thirds of voters to approve any projects involving airports, hazardous waste landfills and large jails within a half-mile of homes. The airport was approved in 1994 by a slim majority of voters.

Studies of South County real-estate values have shown that homes nearest the Marine base have appreciated since El Toro was slated for closure in 1993, but haven’t appreciated as fast as homes farther from the base.

The most recent study looked at other reviews of property values around 20 airports in the U.S., Canada and England dating back to 1972. It concluded that there are enough people who want to buy homes near airports to make up for those who don’t, according to the study co-sponsored by Pacific West and Orange Coast associations of Realtors.

Airports have both a positive and negative affect on home prices, depending on how close a property is to flight paths, said Wallace Walrod, vice president of research and communications for the business council. As long as homes are outside of the noisiest zones, homeowners have nothing to worry about, Walrod said.

“Most academics try to make a name for themselves by coming up with a different finding than their [colleagues],� he said. “But I’ve never seen such a stable and predictable [outcome].�

County airport planners say no Orange County homes or schools will fall within the area expected to be the noisiest zone--where airport noise would average 65 decibels a day.

Living near an airport doesn’t automatically mean bad news for home sellers or buyers, said Larry Franzella, a broker in San Mateo County and mayor of San Bruno, a community located next to San Francisco International Airport.

“There are homes that are 900 square feet selling for $300,000 in the [high-noise zone],� Franzella said Wednesday.

The business council also sent out 2,000 surveys to new-home buyers since September asking about their purchase decisions; 420 were returned. About half of those responding bought homes in South County, considered the area that would bear the brunt of the noise, traffic and pollution generated by an airport at El Toro.

The survey showed that buyers said the proposed airport was less of a factor in their decisions than other concerns such as the quality of the neighborhood, crime rate, schools and purchase price.

A majority of new-home buyers--62%--said John Wayne Airport should be used as the county’s only commercial airport, the survey said, while a third said both airports should be used.

Airport foes also criticized the report for failing to analyze lost sales or the cost to existing homeowners of putting their houses on the market because they don’t want to live next to an airport.