Do solar panels increase home value?

Owned systems have, on average. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found premiums of about $4 per watt across 3,951 solar home sales in eight states (2002–2013), roughly $15,000 for the then-average 3.6 kW system.

Do leased solar panels add value?

Not to the sale price, because the seller does not own them. The buyer takes on the lease, which can help or complicate the sale.

Does an older solar system add less value?

We assume so and reduce the value in a straight line over a 25-year life. The study we use does not set an age rate.

Will an appraiser count my solar?

Practice varies. Bring the contract, production records and any local sales of homes with solar.

HyreSolar tools

Solar home value calculator

For owners selling a house with solar, or buyers weighing what the panels on a listing are worth.

Checked September 3, 2026. Data as of October 22, 2026. HyreSolar sells and installs nothing.

This solar home value calculator gives an estimate from your own numbers in under a minute, with every assumption listed under the result.

The largest US study of solar home sales found buyers paid about $4 per watt more for homes with owned solar, so a new 7.7 kW system adds roughly $30,800.

An 8-year-old system of the same size comes to about $20,944 under our age adjustment, and a leased system adds nothing to the sale price because the seller does not own it.

The $4 a watt comes from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Selling into the Sun, which compared 22,822 home sales, 3,951 of them with solar, across eight states from 2002 to 2013.

It is the best large-sample figure available, but it is old: panel prices have fallen since, and the study itself found that what solar replacement would cost, net of incentives, tracked premiums better than gross installed cost.

Treat $4 as an upper starting point and lower it if you think buyers in your market value solar less.

The age reduction is ours, not the study’s. We take value off in a straight line over the system’s life (25 years by default), on the reasoning that a buyer gets fewer years of production from an older system.

An appraiser may do it differently, and some lenders’ appraisers give solar little or no value unless they have local comparable sales.

What the system adds at sale

Premium per watt, adjusted for age.

Example values The filled-in numbers are an example, not your home. Type over them with your own.

— Estimated value added

— Before age adjustment

— Life remaining

How this result was worked out

Working it out from the numbers above.

A planning figure, not an appraisal.

HyreSolar does not appraise homes or sell solar.

What the result means

The figure is what buyers paid on average in the study period, scaled to your system and its age. It is not an appraisal.

A leased system is a contract the buyer takes over, not an asset. It can help or hurt a sale depending on the terms; see selling a home with leased solar.

Remaining loan balances count against you. A financed system with a UCC-1 filing usually has to be paid off or assumed at closing.

How to use it

Where each input comes from, so nothing is a guess.

1. Enter system size

kW DC.

Where to find it: The original contract or permit.

2. Choose owned or leased

Owned includes paid-off loans. Leases and PPAs count as leased.

Where to find it: Your closing documents or the contract.

3. Enter the system’s age

Years since it was switched on.

Where to find it: The permission-to-operate letter from the utility.

4. Adjust the premium if you want

Default $4/W from LBNL 2015.

Where to find it: A local appraiser’s view of comparable sales.

Assumptions

1
Premium × watts
kW × 1,000 × premium per watt.
2
Straight-line age reduction (HyreSolar assumption)
Multiplied by (1 − age ÷ life), floored at zero.
3
Leased systems
Set to $0: not part of the property sold.

The formula, in full. Value = kW × 1,000 × premium $/W × max(0, 1 − age ÷ life). Leased or PPA: $0.

How the answer moves

Owned systems at the $4/W default. Computed by the calculator on this page.

System	New	8 years old	15 years old
4 kW	$16,000	$10,880	$6,400
6 kW	$24,000	$16,320	$9,600
7.7 kW	$30,800	$20,944	$12,320
10 kW	$40,000	$27,200	$16,000

Next step

Selling? Read selling a home with leased solar and the solar UCC-1 lien. Thinking of adding solar before you sell? Price it with the cost estimator and see installation costs; at today’s prices a new system costs less than the study-era premium suggests it adds, but that premium is unproven at current prices.

To get a current price for an owned system, send your result to an installer with the form under the calculator.

Embed this calculator

Free to use on any site, including news and installer pages. Paste this where you want the calculator to appear. Keep the credit line: it is the only condition.

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<p><a href="https://hyresolar.com/tools/home-value-estimator/">Solar home value calculator</a> by HyreSolar</p>

What this calculator leaves out

The result is a planning estimate. A real proposal accounts for these; this page does not.

Based on 2002–2013 sales.
Current premiums may be lower.
The age reduction is a HyreSolar assumption, not a finding of the study.
Not an appraisal.
Lender appraisers may value solar differently.
Ignores loan balances and lease terms that affect closing.

Questions this calculator answers

Do solar panels increase home value?: Owned systems have, on average. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found premiums of about $4 per watt across 3,951 solar home sales in eight states (2002–2013), roughly $15,000 for the then-average 3.6 kW system.
Do leased solar panels add value?: Not to the sale price, because the seller does not own them. The buyer takes on the lease, which can help or complicate the sale.
Does an older solar system add less value?: We assume so and reduce the value in a straight line over a 25-year life. The study we use does not set an age rate.
Will an appraiser count my solar?: Practice varies. Bring the contract, production records and any local sales of homes with solar.

Sources and methodology

Figures dated October 22, 2026. Last reviewed September 3, 2026 by the HyreSolar research desk, which writes and checks every tool on this site.

Selling into the Sun: Price Premium Analysis of a Multi-State Dataset of Solar Homes (LBNL-6942E) (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, retrieved October 22, 2026). 22,822 sales, 3,951 with PV, eight states, 2002–2013; average premium about $4/W.
U.S. distributed solar and storage 2026 data update (reported) (Mercom, reporting Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, retrieved October 22, 2026). Median residential system size 7.7 kW in 2025, the default size.

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Your real numbers come from a proposal drawn for your roof, your usage and your utility. Tell us about your home: a person reads it, and nothing goes to a solar company until you agree.

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