The majority of professional surveyors (54%) said that a property’s energy efficiency rating has “very little impact” on its selling price, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The RICS added that a further quarter (23%) believe that energy efficiency rating has ‘no impact on the selling price whatsoever’.

However, 22% of respondents see things differently, with energy performance ratings in their view having a ‘modest influence’ on prices.

Increased demand

One third of those responding to the survey stated that buyer demand for energy efficient homes has risen over the past 12 months, but the majority reported only a modest up-tick in buyer appetite. The remaining two-thirds of respondents noted no change in buyer appetite for energy efficient homes in the past year.

However, three-quarters of professional surveyors believe that willingness to pay for highly energy efficient and zero carbon homes is likely to rise over the next three years.

They said that cost is the biggest barrier to making energy efficiency improvements in homes.

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said of the RICS’ figures: “Buyers and tenants don’t have the energy to care about energy efficiency. Right now, it’s hard enough to find somewhere they want to live, let alone somewhere that’s cheap to heat.

“Buyers have a difficult enough job finding somewhere affordable and attractive. Seller instructions dropped for the seventh month in a row, and the average number of properties on estate agents’ books fell from 42 in March to 37.

“As a result, there was another small dip in the number of sales agreed in October, which has been falling ever since the bulk of the stamp duty became payable again at the end of June. Those properties that do sell are going for higher prices. It means that yet again, buyers have the worst of all worlds, paying through the nose for a property that’s not quite right.”