Houseseekers are quite keen on green, says poll

PROPERTY NEWS

Some 59 per cent of home hunters would pay more to buy an environmentally friendly property, a poll by PRDnationwide shows. And 30 per cent of respondents said they would fork out up to $10,000 more to buy a house that was environmentally friendly, while nine per cent would spend $30,000 or more.

PRDnationwide managing director Jim Midgley said sixteen per cent of respondents would pay $10,000 to $20,000 extra to ensure the next house they bought was environmentally friendly, while four per cent would pay an extra $20,000 to $30,000. “Most people have a small voice inside of them which wants to protect and ensure the environment stays ‘green’,” he said.
“It really is a question at the moment of ‘at what cost’ are they willing to pay to have their own environment friendly home,” he said. “The research shows that installing enviro-friendly features could make the difference to potential buyers, possibly as much as a nicely finished kitchen or bathroom would,” he said.
Mr Midgley said water conservation must rank as one of the most highly desirable Australian green features, due to the nationwide battles with periods of long drought. “Second to this, solar energy is quickly becoming the ‘it’ feature to install in not only new dwellings, but existing older homes as well,” he said.
Aaron Maskrey, PRDnationwide research director, said only 41 per cent of home hunters will not pay extra for green features. “Having an energy efficient home that results in savings long term would appeal to most buyers,” he said. “However, there is a point where potential buyers will be put off by the initial cost to installing these features, as they may be out reach.”
Mr Maskrey suggested that investors who didn’t want to ‘over-capitalise’ on being green when it comes to sale time should look to install low cost enviro-friendly additions. “If they are looking to keep the property for a long period of time, enviro-friendly additions to the property could prove to be a key differentiator in the market and sellers would have the time to slowly introduce these additions into the property, not putting strain on the budget,” he said.
Mr Maskrey believes in the short-term, as interest rates slowly increase and facilitating home loans become the main priority, enviro-friendly additions to the home could take a back seat.
“However, over time, as buyers finances improve and mortgages become smaller, I would expect enviro-friendly additions to the home to become more important than landscaping and almost as important as renovating other rooms in the home,” he said.
Adam Gray, PRDnationwide New Farm director, said solar and other ‘green’ upgrades are becoming more important to home buyers.
“I think Generation X and Y have a stronger desire for these environmental aspects,” he said. “Buyers are interested in anything that has been installed that they don’t have to including tanks, grey water and solar,” he said.