Would you pay more for a home with a better EPC?

[Deleted User]

yes we did. Eco house in all ways. Costs: £360 pa electricity, £260 pa wood pellets, £180pa for water. Income from pv £1000 pa

Brilliant calming atmosphere, feng shui and vibes

Triple glazing etc and wonderful sound insultion. Heat sink internal wall and flooring. Solar shading

DreamweaverB

I've bought three houses in the last few years and never once even looked at the EPC... I'd hazard that most people really don't care about the EPC and it would certainly never affect the house price.

Amanita_2

Survey completed.

My house is over 200 years old , the EPC certificate looks awful but I wouldn't swap it for a modern new build even if it did mean lower bills.

vickynleon

i've just completed your quiz

bmar71n

thank you all for your responses, a quick summary of what you are saying so far is:

So of the people that have completed the questionnaire most of you (93%) are concerned about the cost of energy, 60% feel that EPCs are not reliable and would not use the EPC as a negotiating tool (64%).

19% of you have taken advantage of government incentives for domestic energy efficiency with the majority having taken advantage of feed in tariffs.

Finally 81% of you would find an energy efficient home more desirable but only 48% would pay more to live in a energy efficient home.

Hope you find this interesting, it is proving useful for my dissertation and look forward to any more responses or comments

bmar71n

thank you all for the responses to the questionnaire, the results are proving a very useful comparison to the existing research and i will post the final results for those that are interested.

Sugared-frog

I did chase down the EPC on the house we were buying ... took until nearly completion to get it. It didn't make a difference to whether we bought the house or not and it was a "D" with apparently the potential to move to a "C". I'm hoping that it is wrong but I do think we can improve it.

It is an older property and we do intend to put various energy saving projects in, from underfloor insulation to potentially Solar Thermal/PV. We did that on the previous house and benefited from lower bills and the house feeling more comfortable.

dodger1

I can't answer the final question "would you be willing to pay more to live in a more energy efficient home". It would depend on how much extra the house would cost and what period I would have to live in the property to save at least the equivalent in energy outgoing costs.

In other words a definite no if the energy costs saved are less than the initial hike on the property cost but yes if I could at least break even over say five years.

bmar71n

Sugared-frog wrote: »

I did chase down the EPC on the house we were buying ... took until nearly completion to get it. It didn't make a difference to whether we bought the house or not and it was a "D" with apparently the potential to move to a "C". I'm hoping that it is wrong but I do think we can improve it.

It is an older property and we do intend to put various energy saving projects in, from underfloor insulation to potentially Solar Thermal/PV. We did that on the previous house and benefited from lower bills and the house feeling more comfortable.

My research from existing literature seems to show that what you say about the home being more comfortable appears to be the main driver for most people wanting an energy efficient home rather than the fiscal aspect of lower bills.

bmar71n

dodger1 wrote: »

I can't answer the final question "would you be willing to pay more to live in a more energy efficient home". It would depend on how much extra the house would cost and what period I would have to live in the property to save at least the equivalent in energy outgoing costs.

In other words a definite no if the energy costs saved are less than the initial hike on the property cost but yes if I could at least break even over say five years.

again this point has emerged from the existing research, from the Netherlands. This is a good rational approach to establish value rather than the more common emotive approach to house purchasing