Homebuyers who value sustainable living have to pay a higher price for their listings in comparison to those who don't. Eco-friendly homes, otherwise known as high performance homes (HPH), accounted for 18 percent of the total home sales in Washington, D.C. from 2008 to 2013. The median sales price of HPHs was 23 percent higher than non-HPHs. This data comes from a study conducted by Institute for Market Transformation in association with Elevate Energy and MRIS subsidiary RealEstate Business Intelligence, which examined the sales trends of HPH and non-HPH homes in the District from 2008 to 2013. MRIS, the industry-leading Mid-Atlantic Multiple Listing Service (MLS), recently released the findings, determining that the more efficient the home, the lower the default risk. For ENERGY STAR homes in particular, there was a 32 percent less likely chance to go into default.
The highest number of HPH sales was in Cathedral Heights, Georgetown, Howard, Brookland, Brentwood and Capitol Hill. The highest number (29.1 percent) of HPH homes sold was in ZIP code 20015 in the Friendship Heights neighborhood, while the lowest number (3.5 percent) was found in ZIP code 20032 in the Congress Heights neighborhood.
The conclusion of the study stated that eco-friendly features perform above average in the Washington, D.C. market. Because of this, MRIS plans to add 14 new MLS fields, including ENERGY STAR cooling and heating systems and LEED certifications. Doing this, it will be easier for homebuyers to better identify which listings identify as HPHs.
· Greening the MLS 2015 [MRIS]