How will solar panels affect the value of my home? I'd like to install them but am worried about what will happen when I come to sell

I am thinking about installing solar panels on to the roof of my house. It still feels like a good investment and I would like to invest in renewable energy where I can.

However I don’t know how long I’m going to be living there. When I come to sell up, with the solar panels add or detract from the value of my home?

Rachel Rickard Straus of This is Money replies: Despite cuts to subsidies for households with solar panels, they can still offer a good return on your investment.

It may be nothing like the ten per cent a year they were offering, but the returns will generally still justify the outlay over time.

Panel discussion: 1,200 NAEA members gave their view on the impact of solar panels on house values

Panel discussion: 1,200 NAEA members gave their view on the impact of solar panels on house values

Subsidies have been cut by 64 per cent since the beginning of the year, with households now receiving 4.39p per kilowatt hour of renewable energy generated, down from the 12p they were receiving. 

The changes mean it will take much longer to recoup the cost over the years through lower energy bills and payments made for generating energy. However the cost of installation has also been falling sharply in recent years, so this should soften the blow slightly.  

Numbers aside, your own solar panels allow you to easily cut your reliance on fossil fuels and give you some independence from the national grid.

But what happens when you come to sell?

Of course much of this could depend on how you bought the panels. If they are paid for outright that could be seen differently to buyers than if you took out a loan that is now attached to the house rather than to you.

This payment method has been offered to homeowners in the past through the Green Deal, whereby the debt is paid off – with interest – from the savings to energy bills over time.

If the panels are already paid for, surely the promise of cheaper energy bills and even of payments for selling electricity back to the grid would be seen as a positive by potential buyers? 

I asked the National Association of Estate Agents for the views of their members on this issue.

They send out a questionnaire to their members every month and kindly agreed to insert a question into this for us.

I’m afraid the conclusion was perfectly non-committal.

Of 1,200 NAEA members who responded to the question:

- 70.6 per cent said they believe solar panels make no difference to the value of a property for sale

- 14.7 per cent said they believe solar panels reduce the value of a property for sale

- 14.7 per cent said they believe solar panels add value to a property for sale.

So in conclusion, it seems the eventual selling price of your home need not be one of your foremost considerations in this matter.  

Sun salutation: Installing solar panels generally still pays off when measured in financial terms, even though subsidies have been cut 

Sun salutation: Installing solar panels generally still pays off when measured in financial terms, even though subsidies have been cut 

 

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