Energy efficiency in the German residential housing market: Its influence on tenants and owners

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) were introduced by the European Union as a transparency tool in order to meet the targets of reducing the energy consumption of buildings. However, several inefficiencies hindered their implementation, resulting in a recast of the corresponding Directive coming into force in Germany in 2014. In 2012, Amecke (2012) was predicting that a fundamental change would occur due to the upcoming improvement of EPCs' legal status. This follow-up investigation proves Amecke's assumption and expands the examination by comparing different target groups (tenants vs. owners) and elicitation methods (indirect approach via choice-based conjoint analysis vs. direct approach via self-explicated method). We analyzed the survey responses of 206 participants (108 tenants, 98 owners), which had been collected between May and July 2017. The results of the indirect approach suggest an ongoing change in the housing market, as energy efficiency achieves a high importance score similar to that of rent resp. price and of location. Owners are significantly more familiar with the EPC tool, giving it stronger consideration than tenants do. The results indicate three main policy implications concerning enhanced (i) transparency regulation and its compliance, (ii) environmental awareness, and (iii) communication of economic incentives.