More than 70% of property professionals believe energy performance certificate ratings should be reflected in valuation, a poll by Countrywide Surveying Services has found.

The responses were gathered following a webinar panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities of moving towards a low-carbon built environment.

When asked the question “should lenders reflect the EPC rating in mortgage rates?” a small majority of 56% said “yes”, with 44% saying “no”.

Meanwhile, 59% of those polled believe that home buyers would be willing to pay more for an energy-efficient property and 41% thought they would not. 

Most respondents do not believe that it should be down to the public to entirely foot the bill for retrofitting property with energy efficiency measures.

The poll revealed that 73% of property professionals believe the government and home owners should jointly cover the cost of retrofitting older homes, while 24% said it should be entirely down to the government and 3% said it should be fully covered by home owners.

Countrywide Surveying Services managing director Matthew Cumber says: “Awareness around the green mortgage market and energy efficiency is clearly rising at pace. 

“With changes to the minimum energy ratings in the offing, it’s clear that surveyors, lenders, intermediaries, homeowners, landlords and potential buyers all need to be fully aware of the challenges/opportunities involved in moving to a low carbon built environment.

“As always, these polls make for some interesting reading and discussion. A variety of issues around EPC ratings will continue to be at the centre of many debates and it’s clear from the data that there’s a growing clamour for them to be taken into account when it comes to the valuation process and, to a lesser degree, mortgage rates. 

“And this is a discussion which I expect to gather further momentum in H2 2021.”