With the cost of living higher than it has been in decades, homeowners and renters are looking for ways to reduce bills and save some money.
Those living in homes with higher energy efficiency ratings are ahead of the game when it comes to reducing the cost of energy bills, and living in a home with a high rating is top of mind for both buyers and renters, according to a recent survey by realestate.com.au.
Higher cost of living is making energy-efficient homes more important to property seekers. Source: Getty.
According to the September 2023 Residential Audience Pulse Survey, 68% of consumers said energy efficiency ratings were important when buying, renting, or building a property, with a third saying they were extremely important.
How important are energy efficiency ratings in your decision-making when buying / renting / building?
Renters placed more importance on energy efficiency ratings than those buying or building. Nearly half of renters thought ratings were extremely important compared to 29% of buyers.
Three-quarters of respondents cited reducing energy bills as the main reason energy efficiency ratings were important, however half wanted to do good for the environment.
Why are energy efficiency ratings important to you?
With nearly a quarter of overall energy use and more than 10% of carbon emissions in Australia coming from residential buildings, improving our homes’ energy efficiency can help reduce carbon emissions.
There are numerous ways to improve a home’s energy efficiency rating, such as adding solar panels, double-glazed windows and better insulation.
Many new properties have more energy-efficient features as it is a government requirement that new builds meet a minimum energy efficiency rating.
Suburbs with the most listings with energy efficient features
Of the top 10 suburbs nationally with the most energy-efficient property listings, 90% are in Melbourne.
Glen Iris, Edithvale, and Richmond all had the most new property listings with energy-efficient features.
Austral in Sydney makes it to number ten on the list.
All the suburbs on the list have had large numbers of apartments or houses built in recent years and therefore all recently-built homes had to have at least a six-star energy rating.
Property owners are installing features such as solar panels to improve energy efficiency. Source: Getty.
However, since October of this year, the minimum rating has been raised to seven, making all homes built after this date even more energy-efficient than previously.
This still means that most of Australia’s housing stock was not built to today’s minimum standards. However, improvements made by property owners have made older buildings more energy-efficient.
Source: realestate.com.au
