According to findings from the 2018 REALTORS® and Sustainability Report, a majority of residential and commercial agents (71% and 70 %, respectively) believed promoting the energy efficient features of a property was valuable.
Green Homes Sold for $46,532 More on Average Than Homes Without Green Features in 2017
Sustainability Efforts Pay Off in Cleveland, Where Three Shaker Heights Neighborhoods Made the List
Seattle, WA – April 20, 2018 (PRNewswire) (NASDAQ: RDFN)– Green homes sold for $46,532 more than homes without green features in 2017, according to Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. To determine that figure, Redfin data scientists analyzed real estate listings for all the homes sold between January 1, 2017 and April 2018 in more than 80 major metropolitan areas. Redfin identified the homes with one or more green features and compared the median price of those homes ($569,378) with the median price of all homes sold in the time period ($522,845).
The study also looked at which U.S. neighborhoods have the greatest number of eco-friendly homes, based on the percentage of homes that mentioned one or more “green” features in real estate listings. Cleveland, OH and Orange County, CA dominated the list, both having three neighborhoods in the top 10.
Malvern, Fenway and Mercer are all in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland that works hard to promote sustainable living. To encourage residents to reduce their carbon footprint, the city offers a recycling program, home energy assessments, energy incentive programs, access to financing for solar panels and more. Redfin real estate agents say that work is evident.
“As our homes age, it’s important to not only preserve the classic architectural charm of Shaker Heights but update them to meet today’s modern lifestyle,” said Redfin Cleveland agent Danielle Parent. “Homebuyers are drawn to the historic, classic-style tudors that adorn the tree-lined streets of Shaker Heights, but many homes, because of their age, are in need of significant updates. The city has done a tremendous job of communicating the resources that are available to homeowners to help them implement eco-friendly features like solar panels and energy-efficient windows. The city was ahead of the curve and has been an ardent supporter of reducing its carbon footprint since 2002.”
To read the full report, complete with quotes and graphics, click here.
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country’s #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry’s lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $60 billion in home sales.
Homebuyers desiring built-in “green” amenities could find listings for less than median home values
Santa Clara, CA – April 19, 2018 (PRNewswire) Homes with eco-friendly features do not always command a premium price tag in today’s hot housing market, according to analysis from realtor.com®, a leading online real estate destination.
In honor of Earth Day, realtor.com® analyzed current listings in the top 200 U.S. metros to determine the market availability of “green” homes with any of seven eco-friendly features, such as solar panels, smart thermostats or bamboo floors, and evaluated how much more – or less – these homes may cost a prospective homebuyer.
“Although Southern and Western states still lead the way in green technology adoption, eco-friendly features have grown in popularity across many regions of the United States,” said Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com®. “Many buyers have come to expect standard features, and homes integrating specialty green features are becoming more mainstream. However, in today’s inventory-starved market, location still reigns supreme and the price of land can easily override the allure of special eco-friendly features.”
The “greenest” metro of them all
Prospective homebuyers in the Fort Collins, Colo. metro area have the highest likelihood of finding a home with integrated “green” features, with 36 percent of its April 2018 listings noting at least one sustainable living feature. Following closely behind are the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas and San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, Calif., metro areas at 35 percent of listings each.
Although homes with eco-friendly features are four percent more expensive than the median home price in the Dallas metro area, there is essentially no price difference between “green” homes and the median home price in Fort Collins. Notably, homebuyers looking in Sunnyvale/San Jose/Santa Clara may find homes with sustainable living features for five percent less than the local median home price.
Of the top 10 “green” metros, buyers in Tulsa, Okla., will pay the biggest premium – 19 percent – if buying a home with existing eco-friendly features is a priority. Those in Salinas, Calif., have the biggest price advantage, as “green” listings are 14 percent below the median home price. However, while three California metros show that “green” homes are less expensive relative to the median home price in their respective areas, keep in mind that the median home price in each metro is significantly higher than those in other states.
Solar panels soak up the sun in California and Arizona
California dominated seven of the top ten markets with the highest concentration of listings featuring solar panels, with the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., area leading the list at 6.1 percent of total listed homes. Salinas, Calif., and Arizona’s Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metro areas follow closely behind at 4.8 percent and 4.6 percent of total listings featuring solar panels, respectively.
Good news for buyers who want integrated solar panels in their new home: every market aside from Prescott, Ariz., and Fresno, Calif., showed that prices of solar panel homes were the same or less than the median home price in each market. In Salinas, Calif., buyers save on average $233,850 on homes featuring solar panels when compared to the metro’s median listing price of $917,050. However, in Prescott, Ariz., new homeowners will need to add $78,200 to the metro’s median home price of $400,050.
Programmable thermostats heat up home prices in Oklahoma, Alabama and Texas
Homes featuring programmable thermostats will likely cost homebuyers more, adding up to 20 percent in Montgomery, Ala., 17 percent in Tulsa, Okla., 15 percent in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas metro area, and 12 percent in the Oklahoma City metro area.
The Tulsa metro area has the highest proportion of smart thermostat home listings at 31 percent, followed by San Antonio at 28 percent and Fort Collins, Colo. at 25 percent.
Some of the price differences may be attributed to the fact that median home prices in these four metros are all below the national median price of $280,000, ranging from $176,944 for Montgomery, Ala., to $239,650 for Oklahoma City.
ENERGY STAR-rated homes shine bright (and costly) in Connecticut
Four Connecticut metros have the highest concentration of ENERGY STAR-rated* home listings currently on the market, but most homebuyers will need to pay between 21 to 26 percent more than the median home price per square foot.
ENERGY STAR-rated homes make up four percent of current listings in each of Connecticut’s Norwich-New London, Hartford, and New Haven-Milford metro areas, adding 26 percent, 21 percent and 24 percent more to the price per square foot, respectively. ENERGY STAR-rated homes in the Greensboro-High Point, N.C., metro, the fifth highest concentration market at 1 percent of total listings, will cost buyers 41 percent more per square foot.
Of the top five metros, the only one that does not require a premium is the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metro area, where ENERGY STAR-rated homes account for slightly over 3 percent of active listings. While the median home price is the most expensive of the top five metros at $792,050, buyers can save $37,050 on average for a ENERGY STAR-rated home.
Top Markets with Green Amenities
Ranking of the top 200 largest U.S. metros with the highest percentage of active listings featuring at least one of seven “green” amenities in April 2018
Top Markets: Solar
Ranking of the top 200 largest U.S. metros with the highest percentage of active listings featuring solar panels in April 2018
Top Markets: Programmable Thermostats
Ranking of the top 200 largest U.S. metros with the highest percentage of active listings featuring programmable thermostats in April 2018
Top Markets: Energy Star-Rated Homes
Ranking of the top 200 largest U.S. metros with the highest percentage of active listings featuring Energy Star-rated homes in April 2018
Methodology
Realtor.com® looked at the active home listings in April 2018 to see which of the top 200 largest U.S. metro areas had the highest share of homes that included “green” features. To qualify for the list, the metro must have at least 30 listings that included the “green” feature. The eco-friendly features included for analysis are solar panels, bamboo flooring, smart thermostats, ENERGY STAR-rated homes, Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) ventilation, dual pane windows and ENERGY STAR appliances.
* ENERGY STAR is a voluntary energy efficiency program managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). New homes that earn the ENERGY STAR are at least 15 percent more efficient than those built to code. For more information: https://www.energystar.gov/about
About realtor.com®
Realtor.com® is the trusted resource for home buyers, sellers and dreamers, offering the most comprehensive source of for-sale properties, among competing national sites, and the information, tools and professional expertise to help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. It pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today helps make all things home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com®.
Media Contact:
Realtor.com®
Tammy Lee – tammy.lee@realtor.com