New Research on the Home Price Effects of Installing Solar Panels: Evidence from San Diego

Who said that I've stopped doing research?   Samuel Dastrup, Joshua Graff-Zivin, Dora L. Costa and Matthew E. Kahn have just released this  residential real estate and solar panels working paper.


Abstract

This study uses a large sample of homes in the San Diego area to provide some of the first
capitalization estimates of the resale value of homes with solar panels as compared to
comparable homes without solar panels. While the residential solar home market continues to
grow, there is surprisingly little direct evidence on the market capitalization effect. We find
evidence using both hedonics and a repeat sales index approach that solar panels are capitalized
at roughly a 3% premium. This premium is larger in communities with more registered Prius
hybrid vehicles and in communities featuring a larger share of college graduates.