From the September issue: Home energy efficiency and sustainability have been major policy priorities for the Obama administration, but lurking in the background are two consistent, pesky questions: Beyond the documentable savings on utilities bills, do such steps add to the resale value of a home? And do they make it easier or faster to sell property?
Housing groups and housing officials say that definitive statistical data covering multiple regions of the country is scarce. But some localized research projects in Oregon, Washington and California offer promising hints. In a study covering existing and new houses sold between May of last year and April 30 of this year, the Earth Advantage Institute, a nonprofit group based in Portland, Ore., found that newly constructed homes with third-party certifications for sustainability and energy efficiency sold for 8 percent more on average than noncertified homes in the six-county Portland metropolitan area. Existing houses with certifications sold for 30 percent more.
The raw sales data in the study was provided by the Portland Regional Multiple Listing Service. “Certified” houses were defined as those carrying Energy Star or LEED for Homes designations, or Earth Advantage home certifications. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.) The latest study was the fourth in an annual series conducted by Earth Advantage, each of which has shown clear price premiums for certified houses.
