A new U.S. Solar Market Value Report, suggests that adding a solar energy system will increase the value of real estate property.
The U.S. Solar Market Value Report™, released last week, provides further evidence that solar energy systems add value to real estate. This first-of-a-kind study sheds light on the real value that having solar on a residential home can bring to a homeowner. The U.S. Solar Market Value Report was published by Energy Sense Finance and Sandia National Laboratories, with funding by the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative.
The report is based on data collected from the PV Value® tool; a free tool that allows appraisers to attribute a value for solar energy systems on residential properties. The data included in the study was taken from three states where solar is commonly installed: California, Arizona and Massachusetts. The report reveals that the mean value for a solar energy system in 2016 was: $3.93/watt in California, $2.17/watt in Massachusetts and $2.34/watt in Arizona.
“These results provide further evidence that solar adds value to real estate. The added equity value can effectively reduce the payback period if a homeowner needs to sell the house. The data generated by Energy Sense Finance is also the beginning of a comparable property database that real estate appraisers can access when using a sales comparison approach” – Geoff Klise, Sandia National Laboratories
“In analyzing the data, we found that the average income approach value was within 3 percent of the mean appraised value developed by appraisers, further validating the methods used with PV Value®. Providing accurate datasets and training to both appraisers and real estate agents will be key to improving overall valuation accuracy for solar” – Jamie Johnson, Founder/Energy Sense Finance
Additionally, the report included valuations for older systems. In fact, 12-year old solar energy systems which transacted in 2016 were found to retain 50 percent of the value of new systems that also transacted in 2016. In other words, solar does retain significant value over time in addition to the annual energy savings already received by the homeowner.
This report not only supports appraisers, real estate agents and other professionals with tools to better assess the value of owned solar systems, it will also help homeowners make better informed buying decisions. For more information and to download the report, visit https://goo.gl/ofS8Ra
About Energy Sense Finance
Energy Sense Finance is the largest provider of USPAP compliant valuation software, datasets and related data analytics for solar, energy storage, and energy efficient improvements on residential and commercial buildings through both their PV Value® and Ei Value® platforms.
