Energy Efficiency Information and Valuation Practices in Rental Housing

Abstract

The consensus in the academic literature is that energy efficiency is associated with transaction value premiums, but it is not clear to what extent property appraisers take account of this. We decompose external appraisals of rental housing by international valuation firms in England and the Netherlands in two waves, keeping the samples of valued homes constant between these years. We find a notable change in the behavior of external property appraisers. In England, energy performance does not impact assessed values in 2012, while estimation results for 2015 show a significant discount in assessed values for D-, E- and F- relative to C-labeled dwellings. For the Netherlands, we do not observe a significant relationship between energy efficiency and assessed values in 2010, but in 2015 we find that more energy efficiency leads to higher external valuations.