Perspectives of Australian property practitioners on sustainability features in residential property

Abstract

Information on sustainability features in the Australian residential property market is available but not always shared with buyers by property practitioners (real estate agents, property valuers/appraisers and financiers/mortgage lenders and brokers), as it is not a regulatory requirement. This paper examines the perspectives of property practitioners on a range of sustainability features in residential property. Drawing insights from combined questionnaires and interviews, property practitioners seem to attribute different levels of importance to sustainability related information depending on whether they view the information from their professional perspective or from their clients’ perspective. The results obtained in both 2015 and 2017 confirm that practitioners’ perspectives seem to limit the amount and/or type of information they pass on to their clients. Clients are not considering sustainability features as they may not be aware on the existence of such information and are not informed by practitioners about the value of such information. If practitioners share more complete information within the property market buyers would be able to make more informed purchase decisions regarding energy efficiency, sustainable homes, and reduction in operation costs. The property practitioners themselves can utilise this information to have more targeted and information rich marketing strategies.