Are Solar Panels Bad for Property Values?
We decided to look at how having Solar Panels installed affects the house selling process, and sadly, the news is not good! The quick-fire question and answer session below summarise things quite nicely.
It seems that despite Brexit dominating the headlines in recent months, that you can’t read a news blog or watch the news without the latest climate change story hitting the headlines. Whether it’s the bushfires in Australia; the latest post from Greta Thunberg and no doubt the less than polite reply from The Donald; or events closer to home, with more than 100 flood warnings being issued recently. Its genuinely great that you can still cut through with the stories that matter to us all.
One of the things central to the climate change debate is renewable energy sources. According to the Solar Trade Association, there are now more than 800,000 homes in the UK with solar PV electricity panels. This is about 2.6% of all residential properties.
Q - How likely are houses with Solar Panels to come to the market?
Whilst it is getting more likely for houses with Solar Panels to come to the market, they are still about 35% less likely to come to the market compared with houses without Solar Panels. This could be reflective of homeowners wanting to reap the rewards of the initially high cost of Solar Panel installation.
Right now, around 1.7% of all houses sold are fitted with Solar Panels.
Q - How likely are houses with Solar Panels to sell?
This varies widely by region, but what is certain is that it is much more difficult to sell a house with Solar Panels than without. In fact, of all houses that come to the market, 59% of them actually get sold. For houses with Solar Panels, the likelihood of sale is around 51%.
In the East of England, only 44% of houses with Solar Panels actually sell versus 54% of properties without Solar Panels.
Q – Am I more likely to get my asking price if Solar Panels are fitted?
In short, no you are not. The prices achieved for properties with Solar Panels are slightly less than the prices achieved for properties without Solar Panels.
Q – Does it take longer to sell a property with Solar Panels?
Yes it does. In the last year, it took two weeks longer to complete on a property with Solar Panels compared to the overall average completion timescales. This varies widely by region however, with Wales being the worst place in the UK to sell a Solar property, taking on average 31 days longer.
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So if you own a house with Solar Panels, they are less likely to sell and where they do sell, they take a lot longer to sell. In addition, they are sold for less money (when compared with asking prices).
No doubt that Greta would be outraged by our findings above, but the mood around the office was not great either. It seems clear that we all have to do our best to combat the threat of climate change and perhaps the government should introduce legislation to help people sell energy efficient properties rather than the market deciding that its not right for them.