Real estate: what discount should we expect if we sell or buy a poorly insulated house?

Every year, notaries publicize the “green value” of a home, i.e. the difference in sale price between a well-insulated home and a much less well-insulated one. This year’s results have been scrutinized with particular attention, as the new energy efficiency diagnosis (EPD), more reliable in principle, came into force in July 2021.

This DPE, which is mandatory at the time of sale, makes it possible to measure energy consumption but also greenhouse gas emissions and assigns dwellings from A (very economical) to G (dwellings with very poor thermal performance).

A very energy-intensive house that is expensive to heat should sell for less than a well-insulated house, but is that really the case? “yes”– answers the Supreme Council of Notaries.

In 2021, older A and B class homes sometimes sold for a third more than F and G classes in mainland France (excluding Corsica). However, notaries recognize that the difference in prices can be explained by other characteristics of the goods sold.

Very often, poorly insulated houses require further modernization work. Notaries also note the overrepresentation of retirees among people selling energy-intensive housing, as 51% of F or G classified housing is sold to households of this type, who have not necessarily “renovated”.

New Aquitaine: The impact is the strongest

The impact of the energy label is not the same depending on the region. To assess the discount, notaries compare the prices of F and G housing with the prices of moderately insulated housing, or classified D.

As for the houses, it is the new Aquitaine that the impact of the energy label is the strongest. A poorly insulated home sells for an average of 19% less than a D-rated home, and energy-efficient homes are 12% more expensive than the same D-rated home.

Next comes Occitanie, Grand-Est and Centre-Val-de-Loire, where energy-intensive homes sell for 14% less and insulated homes for 11% more.

In Brittany, Hauts-de-France, Bourgogne-France-Comte and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, poorly insulated homes sell for 11% to 12% less, while very well-insulated homes sell for around by 10%. However, in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, F and G houses sell for only 6% less, and a well-insulated house 7% more than Class D houses. with others.