Energy Performance Impact Research Articles

Impact of energy performance on transaction prices

PurposeThis paper aims to estimate the green premium effect of retrofitted apartments in Bucharest and draw comparisons with international examples.Design/methodology/approachA geo-referenced transaction database including information on whether the property had been retrofitted is utilised. The paper uses two approaches to test the green premium. One is a hedonic model controlled by areas to estimate the price incentive of a green building. The second is a STAR GLS model evaluating the diffusion effect of house prices spatially by sub-market and assessment upon the pricing effect of green characteristics.FindingsThe authors’ findings suggest a green premium in two Bucharest areas of between 2.2 per cent and 6.5 per cent. Spatial diffusion effects are shown to contribute positively to house prices, but the unobserved spatial component reduces this effect.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to assess price impacts of green characteristics in Bucharest and one of the first analysing green premium using spatial techniques. The analysis is of significance to policymakers and real estate developers.

The impact of energy performance on single-family home selling prices in Sweden

Purpose – This study aims to test whether energy performance effects single-family home sale prices. It also examines whether recommendations for supposedly cost-effective energy efficiency measures, by intervention category (construction, installation or operation/control technical measures), are perceived as untapped potential – a real option – that effects sale prices. Design/methodology/approach – The energy performance measurement and dummy variables for three categories of improvement recommendations are included as explanatory variables in a hedonic regression analysis using transaction data and energy performance certificates data for 1,073 observations. Findings – Results indicate that better energy performance effects selling prices positively. Energy efficiency recommendations seem to have an impact on sale price; home buyers seem to require a larger “discount” for more complex types of measures. Research limitations/implications – The sample only includes houses in the Stockholm; so-called sustainable buildings have not been specifically studied; and the heating source has not been accounted for. Originality/value – The EU energy performance certificates provide new information and measure energy performance more exactly than many earlier (proxy) variables. This is one of the first studies to test the effect of this information, and the first one using Swedish data.