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Here’s a question we get a lot: could my solar panels help pay for themselves when I sell my home? Though this depends on your system’s size and age, the answer for most solar homeowners is yes.
According to a study released by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, solar homes do indeed fetch higher resale prices.
In California, rooftop solar panels sell for about $3.90 to $6.40 per watt, or an average premium of $17,000 for a two-year-old 3.1 kW system. That number drops slowly as panels age, though the incentive is certainly there.
The jury’s still out on whether installing solar allows you to hike up the asking price of your home, as you would for a remodeling project, for instance.
But you can, however, recoup much of your investment in solar energy by selling your home. The average system lasts 25-30 years, but few homeowners can stay put for that long. It works out nicely for sellers and buyers alike.
The report analyzes data on 72,000 California homes purchased from 2000 to 2009. In addition, regular homes were measured against about 2,000 homes with solar panels.
Researchers note that, amazingly, homes with existing solar systems fetched even higher prices than new homes with equivalent systems included.
This may be due to the fact that home-builders incentivize solar as a key selling point, and are willing to take lower premiums to close deals sooner. But more data needs to be collected to say for sure.
In the meantime, California solar rebates and incentives remain high, arguably the best in the country, and homeowners are encouraged this month to get a free solar quote. (April is National Get a Solar Quote Month, after all).
To learn more, check out average costs of solar power in Los Angeles, or try out a solar cost calculator.
Via Gigaom
