Do Solar Panels Add Value to Your Home?

How Do Solar Panels Add Value to Your Home?

Home value is based on a number of different aspects, and solar panels do add value to your home in some way. By providing a positive boost to the environment and being able to save money on your energy bills, your home becomes more attractive to buyers, especially if your solar array increases your home’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating. A home that costs less to run is incredibly valuable.

With eco-friendly solutions becoming more mainstream, prospective buyers are now more on the lookout for sustainable means to power their homes. A survey from development consultancy Turley found that 63% of buyers would look for a home with solar panels already installed as a direct result of the energy crisis. People have often wondered ‘do solar panels add value to your home?’, and the answer is yes.

Estimated Increases

According to Solar Energy UK, solar panels do add value to your home, as backed by MCS data. The average price of a home can increase between £1,891–£2,722 with the addition of solar panels. This has increased in prediction since 2021, as seen in the graph below.

Can Solar Panels Decrease Property Value?

As our Home Energy Survey reported, older generations tend to be dissuaded from solar panels. A small portion of the population find solar arrays to be an eyesore, and some don’t like them at all. For some buyers, this can decrease the value of a potential property, so in their eyes solar panels do not add value to your home. Fortunately, a large majority of the population are in favour of this renewable technology and appreciate the benefits it brings, so this shouldn’t hamper your efforts to sell your property.

The best way to reassure yourself that solar panels do add value to your home is to read up on the many advantages of solar power through our solar guides and articles. This way, you can help dispel any potential myths that any critics might have about them, and reassure potential buyers how useful they will be to help lower electricity bills and running costs.

Does the Location Have an Impact on the Increase?

The value to your home that solar panels do add is constantly under review. Various studies have found property prices to increase by around 4–14% when solar panels have been installed. On average, this equates to around a £32,459 boost, but these increases depend on where in the UK you live.

Do solar panels add value to your home? This data proves the point that they do, no matter where you live. The biggest increases can be seen in London, where solar installations can add an impressive £90,000 on average to your house price. Where properties are worth the most, you can expect to see a much bigger return on your investment.

You can see average property value increases with solar installations based on location in the interactive graph below.

What Do Solar Panels Cost?

On the flipside of asking ‘do solar panels add value to your home?’ is how much it will set you back in the first place. This can be of particular concern to those wishing to install them just to sell their property. You will want to make sure that the investment offers a serious return.

Typically, you can expect to pay £6,000–£9,000 to install a solar array on an average home. Based on the averages outlined in the graph above, it will not matter when you come to sell your home as its value will increase by at least three times the amount you paid to have solar installed. Do solar panels add value to your home as well as a sizeable return on investment? Resoundingly, yes.

Factors Affecting Property Value Increases

There are other aspects that affect how much your property is worth, at least according to an estate agent. While we realise that solar panels do add value to your home, there are other elements at play. These include energy efficiency and the local area.

House Size

Larger homes are worth more than smaller homes, especially with accompanying land. Naturally, there are geographical exceptions to this rule.

The Economy

External factors, such as how busy the property market is, will greatly affect how much your home will sell for. As we saw during the pandemic, property prices fell sharply, but there will always be peaks and troughs depending on how well the economy is performing.

Neighbourhood

Areas of mixed tenures, such as social and private housing, can play a big part in the value of your home. This is tied into wider aesthetics of neighbouring properties too.

Crime

Another external factor is the crime statistics of your area. This can be enough to put buyers off, but it’s best to be honest about something you have no control over.

Local Amenities

Proximity to shops and schools is incredibly useful, as well as public transportation if your property is a little out of town. Decisions can be reached on a home based on how close it is to the high street or shops.

Energy Efficiency

How much it costs to heat and run your home affects its EPC rating, which can be attractive to buyers if it’s performing well. This is where the question of ‘do solar panels add value to your home?’ really comes into play. A home run on renewable electricity will cost occupants next to nothing in bills.

Do Solar Panels Add Value to Your Home Based on Aesthetics?

Some people believe solar panels are attractive, while others are put off by their looks. For those who are put off, solar roof tiles can be a viable alternative as they are a lot less obvious to onlookers. Solar panels do add value to your home, even when using tiles. The only downside is that they are much more expensive to install than a traditional solar array.

Aesthetics are largely subjective, but whichever option you choose, solar panels do add value to your home. There are different options available that will appeal to anyone’s preferences, which means that everyone will be happy with a property that uses solar power. As you get lower energy bills and can export unused electricity to the grid, where’s the downside?

The Usefulness of Solar Energy

Besides the reduction in electricity bills and the aesthetics, solar panels do add value to your home in more ways. As long as your array was installed by a professional that was MCS registered, you can benefit from receiving money from exporting energy to National Grid.

The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) was set up to replace the historic Feed-in Tariff. It’s an obligation of larger energy companies to pay their customers for renewable energy they produce and support the grid with. Any energy supplier with more than 150,000 customers must offer a rate above £0; anyone else can offer a rate if they decide to.

How Do Solar Panels Add Value to Your Home in Terms of the SEG?

In terms of tariffs, solar panels do add value to your home by giving you a little extra income. A basic rate of 12p/kWh of electricity you export will see an average household earn £160 a year. Higher rates are available, but these may be on variable tariffs or exclusive to an energy supplier’s customers.

The good thing about choosing an SEG licensee is that they don’t have to be your energy provider. However, some of the best rates are only reserved for customers, so you might be better off switching. Just make sure that the value solar panels do add to your home in terms of your SEG licensee is worth it.

Is Solar Power Really Worth It?

In terms of energy savings, trust solar power to offer you the complete package. As electricity on a national level is mostly produced using fossil fuels, you can reduce your impact on the environment by cutting down what you use. Alternatively, your own solar panels can produce renewable energy that you won’t have to limit. The value solar panels do add to your home also come in the form of carbon cutting. Energy Saving Trust estimates that a typical system could cut a tonne of carbon a year.

Added to this is the value to your home that solar panels do add, up to a massive £90,000, and you can see why solar has huge benefits. Solar power is worth paying for, not least because it makes your bills cheaper but also because you can earn money from them.

Interested to learn how much a solar installation will cost you? Click on the button below to get tailored quotes for your area.