Homeowners explore ways to retrofit homes to improve energy performance

More homeowners are keen to retrofit their homes and as such are seeking high quality, standard, professional advice, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Research from RICS has highlighted the importance currently placed on making homes more energy efficient and the need for standardisation and clarity in the advice given.

As a result, the organisation has launched a new Residential Retrofit Standard.

The new standard was developed by a team of experts following an extensive eight-week-long consultation period.

Demand for advice has been spurred on by increasingly high energy prices and UK government net-zero target.

And it will provide a framework within which RICS members and other professionals, including architects, can advise their customers on retrofit options in homes across the UK.

The aim is to support the nationwide effort to decarbonise the residential property sector, according to RICS.

A series of extra questions were included in the RICS Residential Property Monitor in January, to gauge the impact of energy-efficient properties on market trends, which made for some interesting and insightful responses.

When survey respondents were asked if they had seen greater interest from buyers in homes that are more energy efficient, 39 per cent said they had noticed an increase in demand – an increase on 34 per cent when this question was asked in June 2023.

On the same basis, 43 per cent stated that sellers were looking to attach a premium to homes that are more energy efficient (42 per cent last time).

Some 26 per cent reported seeing buyers highlight poor energy efficiency as a reason for making an offer below asking price (up from 23 per cent previously) and 37 per cent said that higher energy-efficient homes were holding their value in the current market.

Paul Bagust, RICS head of property practice, says: “As homeowners increasingly look to explore ways to retrofit their homes to improve energy performance, it is critical that advice is given by a highly qualified professional.

​“It is clear, especially from the results of the extra questions added to our monthly residential survey, that there is a market need for a standard that facilitates quality, reliability and consistency, and the RICS Retrofit Standard does just that.

“This fully comprehensive standard will be rigorously upheld by RICS and has been designed to be used and understood by a broad range of professionals in the industry.

“We are asking for the recommendations in the standard to be implemented by October 31, 2024”.