A property investment platform is to spend £1bn buying and retrofitting thousands of homes for rent.
The platform, called IMMO, aims to acquire more than 3,000 homes across Britain and bring them up to an EPC C rating where possible.
It will spend £1bn to acquire the homes by 2025. And it estimated that its refurbishment work would save property owners or the government at least £25m in retrofitting costs.
Retrofitting key to net zero
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has estimated that the average cost to upgrade a privately rented property to an EPC C rating in the UK is around £7,650.
Retrofitting Britain’s housing stock – the oldest in Europe – will be key to meeting the government’s ambitious net-zero targets. Trustmark analysis suggests that 24 million homes in the UK are in need of some form of retrofitting.
Meanwhile, Savills has estimated that it will cost more than £300bn to bring the entirety of the UK’s housing stock up to modern energy efficiency standards.
And the CIOB called on the government earlier this year to improve the quality of housing across the board through retrofitting, which it said would help alleviate reliance on carbon-intensive energy systems.
Anna Clare Harper, head of sustainability at IMMO, says: “The built environment is one of the worst offenders when it comes to carbon emissions. Without a programme of mass retrofitting, the UK will not be able to meet its net-zero targets.
“Public investment and regulations play an important role in bringing Britain’s housing up to modern energy efficiency standards.
“The private sector also plays an important role. Institutional investors such as pension funds and insurers are increasingly on the hunt for assets that produce reliable, long-term income streams to match their liabilities in a way that is socially and environmentally responsible.”
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So the Department for levelling up etc has estimated the average cost of raising privately rented property is £7600. I would love to see how this estimate was arrived at! Appears to be missing the last number?
I personally think with the current energy costs developers should offer home buyers the option of having solar & battery storage installed . Even doing it as standard. This would allow for less reliance on the grid and potentially have new home owners 100% green . Would also add value to any property if buyers know that they won’t have any electricity bills. Avg bill is £3000 PA so even if the PV & BAT costs are £15k extra the payback time of 5 year is amazing considering that from year 6 on you save £3k and the added value you get if selling property, not forgetting that it would be a great selling factor. 100% has to be one for tier 1 developers to look at the first one to do this will defo have the edge . Also offering 3 phase fast chargers on new housing developments . Or installation of a system where the car battery feeds back into domestic system when needed and or stores the excess solar produced and feeds back if/when needed .