 | Saving energy adds value |
RealEstate.com.au| 16 Oct 2008 |Tony Rindfleisch| The Sunday Herald-Sun
The energy efficiency of houses is tipped to become the next big thing in real estate, ranking with location and the number of rooms as major selling points.
Climate change and environmental issues are certain to make a property's "carbon footprint" one of the main factors determining its value.
Two recent major Australian real estate conferences were told domestic energy use -- and even residential power generation -- would soon be significant issues for home buyers.
Demographer Bernard Salt said energy ratings would become mandatory for all dwellings within the next few years.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Neil Laws said it was a natural progression that vendors' section 32 statements would include an energy rating for dwellings, as happened interstate.
Futurologist Ray Hammond said the amount of energy a property could produce and return to the power grid would become one of its selling features.
"People (buyers) will beasking about environmental issues such as insulation, power usage, how much it costs for heating or cooling and about the carbon footprint of the house," Mr Hammond said.
"It will become almost moreimportant than the property's location and the number of bedrooms. "I travel and I see the mood changing. Like fashion, it is sweeping the world." Mr Hammond, who addressed the Property Council of Australia congress, also said: People who rented would continue to suffer in Australia because of the shortage of housing and growing migration.
Retirement accommodation would be under growing demand from the ageing population. Progress would lead to houses being monitored by computers that could detect a weakness in a pipe and dispatch a plumber before it leaked.
Australia largely ignoring solar, wind, tidal and wave power was laughable.
"I walk outside and get sunburnt, but there is not a solar panel in sight," Mr Hammond said.
"While Australia is among the most blessed nations with natural resources, it is among the worst user of energy -- and children want to consume four times that of their parents. "Australia, certainly in the northern part, has year-round sunshine that ought to be used to heat water and power light.
"There's more than enough heat energy to power the entire continent.
"Within 10 years, people buying property, whether it's old or new, will be asking about its energy and sustainability and its (environmentally) friendliness as the number one issue."
Mr Laws agreed that population growth and a shortage of rental accommodation would continue to be major issues.
"About 1500 people a week are moving to Victoria. So, when we open a new housing estate of 500 blocks, that's only a little more than a week's supply of housing for all these new people," he said.
Mr Laws said the State Government had to look at allowing higher density housing in some areas.
He said young people were living with their parents longer and many did not have the "great Australian dream" of owning a home.
Mr Salt, who predicted the sea change phenomenon, said moves by the state and federal governments to address the shortage of affordable housing were "piecemeal" and "inconsequential".
"There's been a lot of talk, but it's hard to point to a large-scale, stand-out project in affordable housing," Mr Salt said.
"We had the Housing Commission towers of the 1950s and '60s and I'd like to think that if we placed a similar amount of effort on affordable housing we'd do a better job (than those buildings).
"The problem is there is not the same focus on that issue. They're more concerned with containment of the city for environmental reasons, not looking at the humanitarian reasons."
Mr Hammond, a British author whose latest book is The World in 2030, said Australia's resources boom would flourish for a further 20 to 30 years because after demand from China subsided India would step up, followed by Latin America and Africa. He said rich nations would need to import labour from poorer countries and most of the migrants would live in bottom-end rental properties in cities.
"If I were an investor in Victoria, I would be comfortable with anything to do with the lower end of the rental market," Mr Hammond said.
Increased migration and population growth would add to the woes of the rental market, but would be an opportunity for investors and landlords.
Medical developments would advance life expectancy in rich nations by 20 years, increasing demand for retirement accommodation.
Mr Hammond said technological development would accelerate, making it a wildcard in housing. But it was likely computers would enable houses to be remote controlled and maintenance issues to be monitored and problems detected before they needed repair.
Mr Salt said house values in cities could decline if there were any major incidents of terrorism. He said that during World War II some people had moved from Sydney to the Blue Mountains in fear of being bombed.
