Study shows solar panels increase home value

If your clients are looking at installing solar panels, now is the time to do it.

A recent study released by The Appraisal Journal showed that houses with solar panels are being sold at a higher cost than those without.

The study examined homes sold between 2011 and 2013 in six different states, including Pennsylvania, California, Oregon, Florida, Maryland and North Carolina.

According to the study, for the second quarter of 2015, more than 725,000 residential properties across the country had installed solar panels, and nearly 135,000 of those had been installed in the first six months of 2015.

The authors attribute the growth in solar panel installation to a decrease in the cost of installing the panels over the past decade, in addition to incentives from the state and federal levels, such as tax deductions.

In Pennsylvania, “all paired sales showed a price premium for homes with solar panels,” the study noted. The average premium is $16,377, which is 3.73 percent of the average sale price, and is equal to $3.24 per watt for the solar system.

Across the board, the average premium for all study areas was $14,329, which is 3.74 percent of the average sale price and is equal to $3.78 per watt for the solar panel system.

Overall, homes with solar panels sold at a comparable pace to those without. The mean for all the sales is 48 days for homes with and 40 days for homes without.

However, the authors cautioned that the location, age, size and efficiency of the solar panels would have to be considered, along with local market trends, when pricing a home with solar panels.