Great news! We finally have a definitive study showing the market value of solar photo-voltaic installations in Portland! Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory conducted a study in conjunction with appraisers to establish the value of PV installations in these market areas: San Diego Metro area; Gulf Coast of Florida;Raleigh metro area (NC), Portland and Bend metro areas (OR) and the southeast portion of Pennsylvania.
From the study, the average premium paid for a house with a photo-voltaic solar installation was $10,600, Interestingly, houses with solar were seen as taking longer to sell, and it was noted that " the market might be inflating prices based on green cachet, which would occur when additional value is placed on green energy items that are scarce in the market". This study was looking at sales from 2011 - 2013. I'd guess if they looked at sales in 2014 and 2015, we'd see a higher premium and quicker sales.
We've long struggled with valuing houses with solar installations, and appraisers were hesitant and or unwilling to assign any value to solar installations in the absence of good data. Now we know.
read more about the study here
