Green Certification Adds 9% to Home Values

This piece is from the Los Angeles Times. Here is a link to the story. 

from the story:

The study was conducted by researchers with UC Berkeley and UCLA who hoped to answer the question:

Does the investment in an energy-efficient home pay off during resale? The short answer is yes....

...Even though buyers of green homes were likely to save an average of $700 in energy bills annually, "consumers value aspects other than just energy savings alone when purchasing a green home," said Kok, who cited intangibles such as enhanced indoor air quality and better insulation.

There are about 10,000 green-label certified homes in California, according to Kok. He and his co-researcher, UCLA's Matthew Kahn, examined data for the 1.6 million single-family homes sold in California between 2007 and 2012. About 4,300 of those homes were green-label certified. The study focused on production homes, not custom-built properties, and it compared green-labeled and non-green-labeled homes of similar age, size, amenities and location.

The study estimated that the cost of making a home 35% more efficient was $10,000, "so the benefit of green homes far outweighs the cost," Kok said.