Last week a good friend asked me by how much the value of his home may have increased since he installed solar panels?
He had solar panels for more than a year and added a “power wall” of batteries to store the extra energy he’s collecting. His electric bill is basically zero; and that includes charging his Tesla every night.
With today being Earth Day, I did a little research on how solar panels and other “green” features improve property values. Here’s what I discovered …
Homes with Solar Panels in Columbus
Homes for sale with solar panels are hard to find. There’s no search attribute for solar panels in the Columbus MLS. The closest are so-called “Green Features”.
There’s a Green Features Form the property owner can fill out to identify green certifications and energy efficient features. It covers everything from insulation to programmable thermostats and solar panels. Here’s a link to the form.
Hardly anyone uses this form. Currently, there are 3,481 active listings on the MLS, but only 27 specify Green Features -fewer than 1%.
Out of 32,446 homes sold in Central Ohio in the past 12 months, only 192 had Green Features.
7 properties identified “Solar” as part of the heating system and 10 specified “solar panel” in the property description.
Do Green Features Increase the Value of Your Home?
I tried to compare the homes sold in the past 12 months with the ones that specified Green Features. As Green Homes make less than 1% of all sales, it’s hard to come to a firm conclusion – here are the numbers:
- The average sold price of homes with Green Features was $308,680 ($145.76/sqft).
- The average sold price of all other homes was $230,862 ($125.34/sqft).
- The sold/list ratio for Green homes was 99.0% vs 98.5% for all others.
There’s national research on the impact of solar electricity on home values. Berkeley Lab published a study in 2016: Selling Into the Sun: Price Premium Analysis of a Multi-State Dataset of Solar Homes.
They found that in average home values increase by approximately $4/W installed. For the typical solar system this would amount to $15,000.
How to Estimate the Benefits of Solar Panels?
Here are links to resources that will help you determine the value of installing solar panels:
- Pros and Cons of Solar Panels on the RE/MAX Blog refers to numerous websites on the subject of solar panels for residential real estate.
- PVWatts® Calculator can be used to estimate the energy production and cost of energy of photovoltaic (PV) systems.
- It’s Not Cheap Being Green, but Eco-Friendly Homes Do Not Always Cost More.
This article ranks Fort Collins, CO as the greenest metro with the highest percentage of homes with green features. When it comes to solar Californian cities are clearly leading.
Call or text me TODAY at (614) 975-9650, and let me help you find the home that’s perfect for you!