A property’s energy performance plays a decisive role for an increasing number of buyers. According to a representative Immowelt survey, 9 in 10 prospective buyers (91 per cent) who intend to purchase a property in the next 12 months pay specific attention to its energy efficiency. In 35 per cent of planned property purchases, poor energy performance is even a deal-breaker: prospective buyers want to view only properties that already meet a good energy standard.
Higher expectations among owner-occupiers
“Energy efficiency is now almost as important as a property’s location,” explains Piet Derriks, Managing Director of Immowelt. “Buyers want to avoid high subsequent refurbishment costs, so unrefurbished properties will become harder to sell in future.”
Many prospective property buyers would not even view a property with poor energy performance. There are, however, major differences depending on the reason for buying. Owner-occupiers have higher expectations: 40 per cent of respondents looking to buy a property for their own use would not even view listings with inadequate energy efficiency. Investors, by contrast, are less strict: 26 per cent of prospective buyers looking for a property to let say that they would rule out properties requiring refurbishment at the outset of their search.
Energy performance affects price negotiations
Some 41 per cent of prospective buyers intending to purchase a property in the next 12 months would also consider properties with poorer energy efficiency. However, they would factor this into their purchasing decision and might weigh it against other criteria such as location, layout and size. In 14 per cent of cases, prospective buyers planning to buy within the next 12 months intend to use energy performance specifically as an argument in negotiations. Referring to the poor rating and expected modernisation costs, they plan to negotiate down the final price.