Energy efficient homes in Spain grab investors' interest

Rising electricity costs: you might be sick of hearing about them by now, but the world's energy crisis might have something of a silver lining. As electricity bills seem set to continue rising in Spain, energy efficiency has suddenly become a much more valuable attribute in Spanish properties, for tenants, for owners, and for investors. For tenants the reason is obvious: lower bills, along with the environmental benifit. For owners and investors, this means that their properties will become more lettable, according to a report prepared by the 'proptech' Inviertis , a portal specialized in the investment in rented homes.

In recent months, the conversation around energy expenditure has become more prominent in society, in Spain, and in Europe more broadly. And as prices for electricity have reached historic highs, this conversation has had its impact on the real estate sector. The energy efficiency of a property has recently become one of the factors that weighs most heavily into people's decision to choose it or not, whether they are choosing it to live in, rent out, or invest in. 

Everyone is paying more attention to the energy efficiency levels of properties now, and companies in the real estate world are waking up to this shift. Inviertis, a portal specialising in investment in rented homes, for their part are taking note of how energy efficiency is rising in value for both tenants and owners.

Savings for tenants

As Rebeca Pérez, CEO & founder of Inviertis points out, “in recent months we have detected an increase in interest in energy efficiency at all levels on our platform, especially among tenants. In fact, more and more people are willing to change their home in order to have a more efficient home. This causes investors to scramble to find energy-efficient homes that increase their potential to be rented out more quickly."

This would imply that one of the main reasons for this sudden change is that the higher the energy efficiency of a home the more it reduces bills, and thereby generates savings. If prices continue going where they seem to be, it's no surprise that tenants in Spain are driving this change: it's going to affect their pockets.

But there is more playing into this situation than just the savings that more energy efficient homes provide. "Tenants find more advantages in efficient housing. For example, it is usually more recent or renovated buildings, which have better insulation for both cold and heat," says Rebeca Pérez.

In addition, we have to take into account the growing social conscience surrounding sustainability and respect for the environment. And here, efficient homes serve what is becoming a growing market desire: "these are properties designed to intelligently manage resources. This not only results in an improvement in comfort for those who live there, but also a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases or in the consumption of water”. For younger generations who have grown up under the shadow of a changing climate, this is another significant advantage that an efficient home has over a less efficient one. 

A competitive advantage for owners and investors

Betting on energy efficiency in a property is not only driven by the applicants for rental housing. For both owners and investors in Spain it also has many advantages.

For those who choose to rent it out, “having an efficient home is a competitive advantage in the market. The growing interest of tenants in these properties means that having this quality can become a key factor when making the decision to opt for one property or another. Moreover, the energy savings offered by this type of housing may also mean that tenants are willing to pay a somewhat higher rent”, points out the CEO of Inviertis.

So landlords make their properties more attractive to tenants, and can potentially charge higher rents for their property. But is this the case for those acquiring real estate as an investment? Rebeca Pérez argues that energy efficiency "is a bet for both the present and the future, and investors know it."

For this reason, when buying a home to invest in it, "we are seeing that the energy certificate or the ability of the property to be made more efficient through reforms" is an increasingly importan consideration.