Clean Renewable Energy

A Solar System Increases Your Home Value

April 03 2019 - Solar Helps You Sell Your Home Faster and for More Money By GoGreenSolar

If you’ve read pretty much any article on the benefits of converting your home to solar, you’re probably well aware of the great ROI it provides by paying itself off over the course of several years, decreasing energy bills to zero. But what if you’re thinking about selling your house and don’t have several years to wait for that return?

Turns out, the benefits of owning solar panels don’t just pay dividends on energy bills, but can also significantly increase your property’s value and help it sell faster, too,

A study by the Lawrence Berkely National Lab (LBL) titled “Selling into the sun: Price premium analysis of a multi-state dataset of solar homes” found that on average home buyers are willing to pay a premium of $15,000 more for homes with a standard 3.6-kW PV system.

Surveying over 20,000 homes throughout California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, and Pennsylvania, the research shows that premium prices for PV homes are a national trend.

The general breakdown for increasing a home’s value comes to about $4 per watt in California and $3 elsewhere. For example, homeowners in California installing a 5kW (5,000 watts) system could fetch up to $20,000 more on the market when selling their home.

Together with state incentives and a 30% Federal Tax Credit, the financial benefits of selling a home with solar could equal or outweigh the costs of the system itself. Companies such as Go Green Solar, which allow homeowners to install PV systems for less with DIY assistance and offer competitive professional installer pricing, help people looking to sell homes with PV systems recuperate higher profits when reselling their homes while paying lower energy bills in the interim.

In terms of resale, John DiStefano, president of First Fidelity Appraisal Services of New England, said about PV panels, “They definitely add value to your home as long as they are purchased. If they are leased, the banks do not recognize a value.’’

One reason for increased home value is that buyers view solar panels as upgrades, such as a new kitchen or bathroom. Unlike the aforementioned living amenities, however, the government will actually give you money back for this PV home improvement, with some states even offering the bonus incentive of not calculating the value of the upgrades into additional property taxes.

That means that going solar will increase the value of your home even though you won’t get charged extra taxes for it.

What’s more, studies published by separate institutions in 2006 and 2015 show evidence that homes with PV solar systems sell faster than those without.

“In 2008, California homes with energy efficient features and PV were found to sell faster than homes that consume more energy.” The Government Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy states on its site.

A 2010 article from Cleantechnica estimates that homes with solar sell approximately 17% faster. Since then the numbers have changed, increasing in some states while decreasing in others, but the sentiment remains the same — if your home is paying off or owns the PV panels that are installed on it, then it increases its value and desirability.