By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR Magazine

More studies are showing the power of green on boosting sales prices. In the most recent study, University of California researchers found that green-certified, single-family homes sold for $34,800 more — or 9 percent more — than comparable non-green certified homes.

Researchers analyzed 1.6 million home sales from 2007 to 2012 to determine if “green” really helped homes net more at times of resale.

The researchers called the findings the “Prius effect,” since the California cities that had the highest sales prices of green homes also were in places that had the highest sales of electric vehicles.

“We observed a phenomenon we’ve termed the ‘Prius effect’ — a positive correlation between the value of green home labels and environmental ideology, as measured by the rate of hybrid registrations,” co-author Nils Kok, visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told USA Today. Such residents may view green homes as “a point of pride or status symbol,” Kok added.

Previous studies that focused on home sales in Seattle and Portland, Ore., also found that “green” homes sell for higher dollar–as well as stay on the market a fewer number of days. Continue reading »