The green movement has been rising in prominence over the last few decades and has sparked various trends. But when it comes to buying a home, are people really willing to pay more for sustainable properties?
This article does not constitute advice. Professional advice should be taken prior to acting on any part of it. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debt secured on it.
Sustainability is one of the many challenges the house building industry is facing. The public has demanded greener and more energy efficient features and amenities in their homes. Despite the government pledging that all new homes would be zero carbon by 2050, building sustainable homes is an expensive endeavour and it remains to be seen whether or not people would be willing to foot the bill for the costs.
Driving buying decisions
Sustainability does influence many people’s buying decisions and many are loyal to brands and businesses that support green ventures.
According to a 2020 Savills survey, 29% of buyers of new homes said that energy efficiency was the most important factor in their choice of property.
It’s difficult to gauge the accuracy of this statement due to the lack of supply of green homes available in the UK. It’s a classic case of supply vs demand – does mass production wait until the demand is there or does the supply need to be available before it’s seen as something attainable?
Green features
Typically, people interested in making their home more sustainable have done the work themselves to their current properties. As mentioned, there is an initiative to make newly built homes greener, but they are not being produced en masse yet. So, it’s hard to accurately assess just how important green features like solar panels or smart thermostats are to most people.
It’s true these features can lower the running costs of homes and bring energy bills down, but are people really weighing the potential savings against the very real additional cost sustainability requires? It also doesn’t mean people are willing to pay more for a property, with Nationwide finding that energy-efficiency has only a “modest” influence on house prices for owners when setting the price.
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Whether you’re willing to spend some extra money on a sustainable property or not, securing a mortgage will always be the first step in your home buying journey. So schedule some time to talk to one of our expert mortgage advisers so you can decide the right course of action for you.
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