As homebuyers navigate an expanding landscape of sustainable home features, their real estate agents have prime views of the elements that attract and confuse them.
So, what green features actually appeal to buyers? Financial incentives and tangible upgrades, according to the 2025 Realtors Residential Sustainability Report from the National Association of Realtors, the Washington, D.C., group.
Almost half of the 814 brokers polled in April believed that tax credits or rebates would boost demand for sustainable home features, while 31% suspected demand was driven by higher resale value, and 30% pointed to cost savings from energy-efficient appliances. Agents counted windows, doors and siding as the most important green home features for their clients, followed by utility bills and operational costs.
Renewable energy systems such as geothermal wells or solar panels held little sway for clients, agents said. Solar panels, in fact, proved a sticking point. Some 48% thought selling a house with solar panels proved “more difficult,” although 32% didn’t consider it an issue. Part of that difference might stem from knowledge gaps: According to the report, 58% cited a lack of understanding or consideration of how solar impacts transactions. That was followed by 52% wondering about the value panels add to a home and 42% seeking more information on solar lending and upgrade options.
It's a familiar story for agents working in housing markets where some buyers are still encountering sustainable features for the first time.
Over the summer, Long and Foster agent Yolanda Muckle had a Maryland client convinced that the solar panels they purchased and added to their home would boost its value.
“The problem,” Muckle said, “was there were some buyers who were like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want solar panels on the front of my home.’”
Potential buyers also had questions about how much the panels saved over time, a question tricky to answer as the panels were new — too recently installed to have saved the seller the cost of installation over time.
“They felt the value of their home was going to be worth more because of the panels,” Muckle said. Instead, local appraisers struggled to even find a comparable home in the area.
“It’s not in California,” she explained. “We’re not in Arizona. We’re not where it’s customary to see that.”
Overall interest in green homes is inching up
Overall, homebuyer interest in energy-efficient home features is rising, according to the report. Forty-two percent of real estate agents polled said that clients “rarely” asked for advice on energy efficiency upgrades and 21% said clients asked “sometimes.” By contrast, in 2024, 57% of agents polled said their clients “never” posed such questions.
Agent familiarity with green properties followed a similar pattern: Two in five agents reported working with a green home over the past year, although 31% said they “rarely” worked with such properties and 22% estimated that they did every few months. Either way, the report suggests that a home’s green features didn’t meaningfully impact the time a home spends on the market.
Similar to solar panels, however, the perceived value of energy efficiency to a house varied across the country. Agents polled in the Midwest and West — regions with green design more firmly baked into building codes and policy — found touting a home's efficient elements more valuable than those in the Northeast and South.