The Appraisal Journal is the quarterly technical and academic publication of the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers. The materials presented in the publication represent the opinions and views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Appraisal Institute.
“An Analysis of Solar Home Paired Sales across Six States,” by Sandra K. Adomatis, SRA, LEED Green Associate, and Ben Hoen, examines a first-of-its-kind study that uses appraisal methods to compare sale prices of homes with host-owned PV systems across six states to the sale prices of similar homes without PV systems.
The study found that homes with PV systems sold at a premium in all six states and supports the use of cost- and income-based PV premium estimates when paired sales analysis is impossible.
Adomatis is involved in the development of educational materials in the Appraisal Institute’s Valuation of Sustainable Buildings Professional Development Program. She is the author of Residential Green Valuation Tools, an author and co-author of articles in The Appraisal Journal and assisted in the development of the Appraisal Institute’s Residential Green and Energy-Efficient Addendum.
Hoen is a staff research associate in the electricity markets and policy group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He has a master’s degree in environmental policy from Bard College, and bachelor’s degrees in finance and business from the University of Maryland; he is an Affiliate member of the Appraisal Institute.
He has authored or co-authored papers published in the Journal of Real Estate Research, Contemporary Economic Policy, and Energy Economics as well as a chapter in the book Towers, Turbines and Transmission Lines: Impacts on Property Values (Wiley-Blackwell).