RE: Do Consumers Want More Energy Efficient homes?
I have recently been dealing with estate agents on a regular basis. As we all now, the main point of contact between the vendors and buyers of property are the estate agents. Their only interest is to sell properties as soon as possible (even for lower prices) in order to get their commission. They do their research in terms of what people want in a new property and will probably tell you that you cannot teach them anything about buyers' preferences.
They usually list about five main features of the property, that they think will attract the attention of people looking through several properties, on the advert heading. I am yet to see a property description giving ECO friendly features as the "hook" to attract viewers.
I have even heard that, when they get an instruction for a property with ECO friendly features, they do not include them in the property description for fear of putting off the potential buyers. The latter tend to believe that a property like this is going to cost them more.
I do not know who the EST interviewed or what the wording of the questions was, but, with a more thorough questioning, what they would have been likely to find out is that people are keen to save the environment but it is not their job and certainly they should not pay for it.
