Guide
Owned solar (a system you bought outright or have paid off) generally raises a home's sale value. Research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and analysis by Zillow have both found that buyers tend to pay a premium for homes with owned panels, because the new owner inherits lower electricity bills. Leased systems are the important exception: the contract transfers to the buyer, so a lease can complicate or slow a sale rather than add clean value.
Two widely cited public sources shape the consensus. LBNL's "Selling Into the Sun" study, using thousands of home sales across multiple states, found that homes with host-owned solar sold for a premium over comparable homes without it. Zillow's analysis of listings reached a similar directional conclusion: solar-equipped homes tended to sell for more than those without. The exact premium varies by market, system size, and age, so treat any single percentage you see quoted with caution. The reliable finding is the direction, not a precise national number.
The logic is straightforward. A paid-off system lowers, and sometimes nearly eliminates, the home's electricity bill. A buyer is effectively purchasing years of reduced energy costs along with the house, and they will often pay something toward that benefit. Appraisers increasingly recognize owned solar as a value-adding improvement, especially where standardized valuation methods are used. Demand helps too: in markets with high electricity rates or strong environmental preferences, a solar home can stand out and sell faster.
This distinction matters more than almost anything else at resale.
| Ownership type | Effect on sale | What the buyer inherits |
|---|---|---|
| Owned (cash or paid-off loan) | Generally adds value; treated like other improvements | The system free and clear, plus lower bills |
| Financed (loan balance remaining) | Neutral to positive if paid off at closing from proceeds | The system once the lien is cleared |
| Leased or PPA | Can complicate the sale; may add little value | An ongoing monthly obligation they must qualify to assume |
With a lease or power-purchase agreement (PPA), you do not own the panels; a third party does. To sell, the buyer usually has to be approved to take over the lease, or you have to buy out the remaining contract, sometimes for thousands of dollars. Buyers who do not want the obligation may walk, and some lenders scrutinize the arrangement during underwriting. None of this makes leasing wrong, but it means the value story is very different from owning.
Key takeaway: ownership is the hinge. An owned system is an asset that transfers with the home and tends to lift its price; a leased system is a contract that transfers with the home and can be a hurdle. If resale value is part of your reason for going solar, owning matters.
No, and honesty here is the point. The premium is smaller or absent where local electricity is cheap (less bill to save), where the system is old or near end of warranty, or where the panels are unattractive to a particular buyer pool. A very oversized or poorly installed system can even be a negative. The added value also is not the same as your payback: a system can raise your sale price and still not have fully paid for itself if you sell early. Think of resale value as a partial backstop on your investment, not a guarantee you break even.
Do solar panels raise my property taxes?
Often they do not. Many states offer a property-tax exemption for the added value of a residential solar system, meaning the home can sell for more without a proportional tax increase. These exemptions vary by state and are tracked in the DSIRE incentive database, which the report points you to for your specific state.
Resale value is one piece of the case for solar. The bigger driver is usually the bill savings over time. To weigh both, see whether solar clears the bar in is solar worth it, how the payback period is calculated, and, before you sign anything, how to read a solar quote so you buy rather than lease if ownership is your goal. Full model detail is in our methodology.
The report focuses on the bill-savings case for an owned system, the part you can model. Resale value is a bonus, not a promise. An independent estimate, not a quote.
