Green home incentives ‘not big enough’ says Rightmove

The incentives offered to people who green their homes “aren’t big enough,” according to the Rightmove real estate portal.

One in five homebuyers and an equal percentage of renters say a property’s energy efficiency will be an important factor when looking for their next home.

A new report from Rightmove claimed that 19 percent of these two groups will consider energy efficiency an integral part of their future ownership journey.

It comes amid higher energy bills and homes looking for ways to help keep costs down.

Installing green improvements can be expensive, putting homeowners and renters off down the road.

Rightmove calls for stamp duty rebates to be considered, along with significant mortgage and remortgage incentives to help with the costs of making green improvements.

The property’s website suggested that if green improvements continue at their current pace, it will take 43 years for 100 per cent of houses currently for sale in Britain to reach an EPC rating of A to C, the three highest ratings. tall. .

He said it would also take 31 years for homes that are currently available for rent.

Rightmove looked at the number of years it will take for 100 percent of properties to have an EPC rating of C or higher at the current rate of improvement

Energy efficiency will be a future priority for home buyers and renters, says Rightmove

Rightmove went on to claim that 60 percent of the homes for sale on its website have an EPC rating of D or lower.

The same EPC ratings can be found on 50 percent of the homes available for rent on their website.

He called for carefully thought-out incentives, which could include stamp duty rebates if a new buyer makes green improvements within the first few years of purchase.

He also suggested more significant incentives for energy-efficient homes, both for new and remortgages.

In addition, he suggested more subsidies and tax benefits for green technology, such as electric car charging points and solar panels.

Rightmove examined the motivators among homeowners for making green improvements

Adding value to a home is one of the top five reasons homeowners would green upgrade, according to Rightmove.

Their analysis shows that a green premium continues to exist for higher-rated homes.

When asked, only 6 percent of homeowners disagreed that a greener home is worth paying more money for.

Rightmove calls for stamp duty rebates and mortgage incentives for homes making green improvements

Rightmove analyzed 300,000 properties that were sold twice in the last 15 years and issued a new EPC certificate.

The results show a correlation between green improvements and increased home value. The analysis removed local home price growth from which the home could also have benefited and accounted for the property’s square footage.

A property moving from an F to a C rating could increase a property’s value by an average of an additional 15 per cent, or nearly £56,000, compared to the current national average sales price of £371,907.

Agents are increasingly including the EPC rating in their property descriptions as a selling point if it falls in the A to C range.

The number of listings mentioning these EPC ratings is up 24 percent from the previous year and 59 percent in 2019.

Other green terms were up as well, with mentions of electric charging points up 40 percent compared to last year.

In fact, since 2019, mentions of electric charging points in descriptions have increased by 592 percent.

Boosting a property’s EPC rating can increase its value, according to Rightmove

Rightmove’s Tim Bannister said: ‘It’s clear that current incentives aren’t yet big enough for people to sit up and take notice, and even the incentives that do exist aren’t easy to discover.

‘The benefit of making green improvements can be seen in the overall premium a seller can get.

“Of course, improvements that make a home more energy efficient could also mean that the condition improves, such as installing new windows, so homeowners will weigh the cost of improvements against the performance they can get when they sell.

“But the end result of making improvements is not just a renovated home worth more money, it’s also a greener home.

‘To shift demand to greener homes, incentives and education are key. The “price of comfort,” or a better insulated home, is hard to quantify until people see how it can change the way they live for the better, and they need to be able to afford it.

‘Adoption at scale will take time and clearly there are areas that need more attention than others. Houses are much more energy inefficient than apartments, and the sales market is lagging behind what we are seeing in the rental market.

‘The challenge right now is that there aren’t enough suppliers and equipment to make the greenest option the most affordable option for homeowners and lessors.

‘We have to wait and see what the government proposes or what green financing options are available. Affordability will continue to be a challenge unless the incentives are big enough.

‘The days of building energy inefficient houses are over, and we need to get to the point where running an energy inefficient house is a thing of the past.

‘People need to know what to do, in what order, why they are doing it and what benefits it will bring. Our analysis shows that our housing stock is becoming greener, but more needs to be done to accelerate it.’