New-build house prices may soar to cover raft of energy efficiency moves
New-build house prices could soar if developers are expected to pay for additional energy efficiency measures not necessarily seen in other types of residential property.
The latest measure is that from next year new homes – and other buildings – in England will be required by law to install electric vehicle charging points; the government says this will see up to 145,000 charging points installed across the country annually from 2022.
As well as new homes and non-residential buildings, those housing schemes undergoing large scale renovations which leaves them with over 10 parking spaces will be required to install electric vehicle charge points.
Stuart Law, chief executive of the Assetz property investment group, says:
“The built environment contributes around 40 per cent of the UK’s total carbon footprint, so the housebuilding and property sectors have to act urgently if we are to meet our renewed national ambitions for halting climate change post-COP26.
“While this is welcome news from the government, we must look cumulatively at all the obligations we place on housebuilders to tackle carbon reduction and ensure that we provide the support the industry needs to ramp up its building efforts, while also improving environmental standards.
“This means simplifying the planning process, reducing regulation and crucially ensuring finance is available to fund these upgrades, especially with rising inflation exacerbating the impact of materials and labour shortages, all of which increases the cost of building new homes. In the absence of appetite from traditional lenders in a challenging economic climate, the combination of government support and the expertise of specialist lenders will be essential to decarbonisation going forward”.
Law also says that with the current roll out of electric vehicle facilities skewed to London and the South East, smaller house builders are going to be essential to levelling this up across the UK, especially in more remote, rural areas which have become newly popular through the course of the pandemic.
Stuart Law adds:
“In this context the location-specific knowledge and expertise of local SME housebuilders will be essential to increasing levels of eco-friendly housing right across the UK, with EV points being just one tool in the effort to decarbonise.”
Kindly shared by Estate Agent Today
Main photo courtesy of Pixabay
