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Do Solar Panels Increase Home Value in the UK?

Solar panels could increase your home’s value by 0.9%-2%

69% of Brits would buy or rent a property with solar panels

Solar panels can improve a property's EPC score, making it more desirable


Solar power cuts your energy bills, helps the climate, and stops you from being completely reliant on the National Grid – plus the cost of solar panels is falling – but will they add to your home’s value?

Research suggest they won't affect your ability to sell your property, and could actually help you sell it.

We'll get into the specifics how much value solar panels could add to your home, and why they're popular in this article.

If you’re still worried about solar panels affecting the value of your home, talk to your mortgage advisor.

Assuming they tell you everything’s fine, you can fill in this form to get free solar panel quotes from specialists in your area. 

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Solar electric panels on a house roof

“Solar panels definitely increase the sale factor and kerb appeal to people who are keen on eco-friendly features.”

– Zoe Melarkey, Purplebricks

Do solar panels increase the value of your property?

Study

Year

Property price increase from solar panels

Solar Energy UK

2021

0.9%-2%

Zillow

2019

4.1%

California study (The European Economic Review)

2012

3.5%

Multiple studies have confirmed that solar panels add a substantial amount to your home’s value – though properties in certain locations benefit much more than others.

A 2021 study by Solar Energy UK found that solar panels could increase the value of a home by 0.9% to 2%.

The value that solar panels added to a property was on the lower end for the Southwest of England, but on the higher for the Midlands.

A 2019 study by real estate company Zillow showed had better results. It found that solar panels raise a home’s value by 4.1%, on average – which would increase the average UK home’s value by £9,500.

Naturally, homes in sunnier areas will benefit more from solar panels, so it’ll be easier to persuade buyers to meet a higher price.

That was clear from a seven-year California-based study, published in 2012, which found that solar panels add 3.5% to the value of a home – and even more if you’re selling in a liberal community.

Another recent study from 2019 found that, on average, solar PV boosts home values by 14% – and that figure rises to 38% in some parts of England.

So, depending on where you’re located, solar panels could lead to an extra £90,000 onto your property value.

Plus, according to Greenlancer, not only do homes with solar panels generally sell for more money, but they have historically sold faster than homes without panels.

Examples of solar panels’ impact on UK property prices

Check out how much value could be added to your property in the table below:

City

Average value of property

Average added value from solar panels

London

£686,321

£13,726

Bristol

£322,444

£6,449

Edinburgh

£286,397

£5,728

Leicester

£225,552

£4,511

Manchester

£209,134

£4,183

Sheffield

£207,832

£4,157

Birmingham

£205,445

£4,109

Leeds

£203,256

£4,065

Glasgow

£181,134

£3,623

Liverpool

£167,031

£3,341

Data based on the 2% increase in property value found by the 2021 Solar Energy UK study

The industry view

Purplebricks’ director of communications Zoe Melarkey told Eco Experts that while solar panels “don’t necessarily increase the value” of a home, the right buyer can change everything.

They definitely increase the sale factor and kerb appeal to people who are keen on eco-friendly features,” she explained.

Melarkey pointed out that “some solar panels are leased, which means when you buy the house, you also buy the remainder of the lease – so some people might not be keen to take that on.”

In situations like this, the solar installer buys the space above the property and leases it back to the homeowner. In return, the company generally installs the array for free.

However, she added, if you buy your panels outright, “that makes things easier.”

Melarkey also warned against removing your panels, either because you don’t want to enter the housing market with a solar array, or because you want to install them on your new home.

“If you want to remove the panels,” she said, “there’d be quite a substantial bill to do this.”

Public opinion on solar panels

You’ve probably heard the long-standing debate over whether panels actually look nice on a property – and you might even have your own opinion on the matter.  

To get a better understanding of how people feel about solar panels’ appearance, we’ve carried out a survey, asking 2,134 British adults how attractive likely they are to buy or rent a property with solar panels.

To get a better idea of this relationship, check out the results in the chart below. Respondents were given the option state their likelihood of buying or renting a property with solar panels on a scale from “very unlikely” to “very likely”. 

chart showing how many Brits would buy a property with solar panels on the roof

Interestingly, there was a clear correlation in our survey between the age of the respondents and how likely they were to buy a property with solar panels.

74% of Millenials and Gen Z said they were “likely” or “very likely” to buy or rent a property with solar panels, compared to 65% of Boomers and 61% of the Silent Generation.

Despite the mixed responses, 69% of respondents said they would buy a house if it had solar panels on the roof, up from 65% in last year's National Home Energy Survey.

With any luck, these figures will continue to grow. As the solar industry evolves, experts are coming up with new ways to improve the look of solar panels. Many newer panels are a uniform black with black frame (older ones often had a silver frame) so blend in better to most roofs.

Another simple way to improve the appearance of a roof is to look into integrated panels – these sleek sheets sit snuggly in between tiles, rather than looking bulky, sitting on top of the slates.

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Why do solar panels increase property value?

There are a few reasons behind this increase in property value, but it mainly boils down to how much solar power can save homeowners on energy bills. Solar panel owners can also sell surplus generation back to the grid through the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) – bringing in even more money.

In fact, we worked out that if you have a three-bedroom house, you'll save £379 per year on your energy bills from solar panels, and make £159 from the SEG – totting up to an annual saving of £537 a year.

Not to mention that buying a home with panels already attached can help homeowners avoid the upfront installation costs.

Solar-equipped homes also tend to sell for more because solar panels are considered to be upgrades to the home – similar to how an extension or conservatory increases a home’s value.

Solar panels can also increase a property's Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) score – which is a measure of it's energy efficiency – by over two levels. This is hugely desirable for buyers, especially since the government is pushing for all houses to be rated ‘B’ by 2030.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) analysed over 320,000 properties between 1995 and 2011, and found that when a home’s EPC rating rose from band G to E – or from D to B – its property price also rose significantly.

You could benefit from this kind of shift.

Other factors to consider

There are a few factors to consider when determining how much value solar panels could add to your home. These include geographic location, solar installation prices, your system output, and the age of your solar panels.

We'll go into more detail about each factor in the following sections.

Geographic location

When it comes to energy prices, each region is different. This is because each area's local distributor has its own charges set for suppliers – and energy providers then pass these additional costs onto customers through their energy bills.

If a property with solar panels is in an area where energy prices are particularly high, it will become much more valuable. This is predicted to become more commonplace as energy prices surge across the UK.

Location can also influence the amount of sun exposure panels get, which has its obvious benefits for solar energy – the more sunlight you have, the more energy can be generated. This is one of the key reasons why Cornwall is the solar hotspot in the UK.

Local solar installation prices

This overlaps with our previous point, but depending on how much local installation prices are in the area, a property with pre-installed panels could be like gold dust.

If it’s a pricey area compared to other parts of the UK, buyers will be able to save roughly £5,000 by investing in a home with a system already installed.

System output

If you have a pretty small system, don’t expect it to add a huge amount of value to your home. Typically, a larger system will generate more energy and will save you more on energy bills.

We’ve outlined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s findings on how much different solar panel systems can influence property value in America, to give you an idea of how much extra money you could rake in:

Solar system size

Increase in property value

4 kW

$23,644 (£17,556)

6 kW

$35,466 (£26,334)

8 kW

$47,288 (£35,113)

10 kW

$59,110 (£43,891)

Age of the panels

If your system has seen better days – whether that’s due to wear and tear or just old age – it probably won’t add much value to your property.

Bear in mind that solar panels generally last for roughly 25-30 years before their efficiency starts to decline. If your panels are reaching their twilight years, there's a chance the buyer will need to carry out repairs or replace worn-out parts fairly soon. It might even end up costing the same as getting a new system.

Pros and cons of selling a home with solar panels

Pros

  • They increase your home’s value by 0.9%-2%
  • It's easier to sell a home with ready-made energy savings of up to 70% per year
  • Solar panels save 1.6 tonnes of CO2 per year, and 74% of adults are concerned about climate change
  • Solar panels' popularity makes convincing people to buy easier – there are a million UK solar homes now
  • 69% of people would buy a home with solar panels
  • Solar is the most popular energy source

Cons

  • Some people don't like the look of solar panels
  • You won't benefit from free solar energy once you sell your house

Summary

Solar panels will add value onto your home, according to multiple studies – and it just makes sense.

After all, the worst part of buying anything which’ll make your life better is paying for it. If you can buy a property that already has a gorgeous, functioning solar array, it removes the only significant obstacle.

You can charge more, and your buyer can just lie back in the sunshine and watch the savings roll in. It's a win-win.

If making your home more valuable sounds good to you, the next step is to fill in this form to receive free quotes from solar specialists in your area.

FAQs

If you sell your house along with your solar panels, then you will no longer have ownership of them. This means that any payments generated from exporting electricity back to the grid will be passed on to the new owners of the solar panels.

Yes, it’s possible to take your solar panel system with you when you move house. However, this process can be complicated and costly.

This is partly because installers tailor solar panel systems to the size, roof-dimensions, and energy needs of a property, so your new property might not be a right fit for your old system.

25 years is the average lifespan of most solar panels. This doesn't mean that solar panels stop working after that time, and they don't necessarily need to be replaced. A solar panel’s lifespan just means that it starts to produce slightly less energy each year after the 25 year mark.
Written by:
josh jackman
Josh has written about eco-friendly home improvements and climate change for the past four years. His work has been displayed on the front page of the Financial Times, he's been interviewed by BBC One's Rip-Off Britain, and he regularly features in The Telegraph and on BBC Radio.
Reviewed by:
Charlie has been researching and writing about the home energy market for over five years, and he has been the editor of The Eco Experts since 2021. Charlie's thoughts on solar panels have seen him featured in various publications, including The Times, Ideal Home, and Grand Designs Magazine. Ever since he can remember, Charlie has worried about the planet, and he one day dreams of owning a solar power farm.
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