Green Homes: What Is Really Changing — and What It Means for Buyers and Sellers Today

LT Immobili & Design 24 August 2026

The rules may still evolve. The market, meanwhile, is already moving.

In recent years, there has been extensive discussion about green homes, the energy efficiency of buildings and the targets set by the European Union to progressively reduce energy consumption and emissions across the existing building stock.

The issue has often been presented through deadlines, energy ratings and supposed obligations for individual property owners. The reality is more nuanced. The European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) sets out a pathway for reducing the energy consumption of the building stock, while giving individual Member States an important role in determining the measures and mechanisms through which those objectives will be achieved.

The practical implications for Italy will therefore need to be understood in light of the national measures introduced to implement this process.

But for anyone buying or selling a home today, there is another question that may be even more interesting.

The property market does not necessarily wait for every rule to become definitive before it begins to change.

And some of those changes are already becoming visible.

It is easy to assume that the value of a property will depend exclusively on what the law eventually requires.

In reality, another factor is becoming increasingly relevant in property decisions: how buyers perceive future risk and opportunity.

Someone buying a home is no longer considering only what that property is today. They are also trying to understand how much it will cost to maintain, what improvements it may require and how competitive it might remain if it is eventually placed back on the market.

A home with high energy consumption can therefore prompt questions that carried considerably less weight only a few years ago. How expensive will it be to heat and cool? How difficult would it be to improve its energy performance? What work might become advisable over the coming years?

An energy rating does not determine the value of a home on its own. But it is increasingly becoming one of the pieces of information through which buyers interpret that value.

And that is an important distinction.

In our day-to-day work with Italian and international clients, energy performance is appearing more frequently in conversations about properties.

Homes with higher consumption can face greater scrutiny over future costs, more questions about their systems and, in some cases, greater negotiating pressure when buyers anticipate significant renovation expenditure.

Conversely, a recently upgraded property, a home equipped with efficient systems or one capable of delivering lower running costs may come to market with an additional advantage.

This does not mean that a property with a poor energy rating is necessarily difficult to sell, nor does a high rating automatically guarantee a quick sale.

Location, price, architectural quality, condition and local demand remain fundamental.

But all other things being equal, energy efficiency is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

In recent months, we have encountered several technically interesting properties — well located, with good layouts and in attractive settings — where energy performance quickly became part of the conversation during viewings.

Traditional questions about layout, natural light, outdoor space and the surrounding area are increasingly being accompanied by others.

How much might an energy upgrade cost? How recent are the systems? Is there genuine scope to improve the property’s energy performance? What could the impact be on its future value?

These questions are particularly interesting because they reveal a cultural shift even before a regulatory one.

Buyers are beginning to consider not only the purchase price, but the overall cost of owning the property over time.

And when that calculation becomes part of a negotiation, it can also influence the price the market is prepared to pay.

There is another element worth considering: the relationship between energy efficiency and property finance.

In recent years, so-called green mortgages have become more visible in the market. These products are generally designed for the purchase of highly energy-efficient properties or for renovation projects aimed at improving energy performance, sometimes with dedicated terms.

This development forms part of a broader shift within the European financial system towards greater consideration of the energy quality of the building stock.

It does not mean that an inefficient property cannot obtain a mortgage. That would be an excessive conclusion.

It does mean, however, that energy performance, future property value and running costs are gradually becoming part of the financial logic surrounding residential property.

It is a development that both owners and buyers would do well to watch.

Faced with an evolving regulatory framework, many owners may understandably be tempted to think: let’s wait and see what happens.

That position is understandable.

But in property markets, waiting is not necessarily neutral.

While regulations evolve, technology changes, renovation costs change, competing properties change and, above all, buyers’ expectations change.

A home that today is compared primarily with similar properties may, in a few years’ time, also be compared according to differences in energy consumption and the investment required to improve it.

This does not mean that everyone should renovate immediately.

It means that understanding the energy performance of your property today can help you make better decisions tomorrow.

For many years, energy efficiency was regarded primarily as technical information contained in the Energy Performance Certificate.

Today, it is gradually becoming something more.

It can enter the negotiation, affect the costs buyers include in their budget and contribute to how liquid a property may be. When we previously explored what really makes a property liquid, we saw that the ability to sell well never depends on a single factor, but on the balance between the home’s characteristics, its price, demand and market expectations.

It is important, however, not to make the opposite mistake.

A home does not automatically become desirable simply because it consumes less energy. An efficient property in a poor location or offered at an unrealistic price can still struggle.

Likewise, an energy-intensive property in an exceptional location may continue to attract very strong demand.

This is also why how much the location of a home really matters remains a central question in property markets. Energy efficiency is becoming more important, but it does not erase the value of location, surroundings, views, orientation or those characteristics that cannot be changed through renovation.

An energy rating can be improved. The location of a home cannot.

Property markets rarely reward a single factor. It is the combination of different elements that ultimately determines the outcome.

For a property owner, the first step should not necessarily be to carry out work, but to understand.

Knowing the property’s energy rating, the condition of its systems and the realistic scope for improvement makes it possible to present the home more transparently and, above all, to position its asking price more accurately.

In some cases, improving the property before selling may make sense. In others, it may be economically more rational to allow the buyer to carry out the work according to their own requirements.

It is precisely in situations such as these that certain properties may require a completely different selling strategy: not necessarily spending money before going to market, but understanding how to position the property, which audience to target and how to reflect a potential weakness appropriately in the asking price and negotiation.

The decision should come from comparing the cost of the work, the potential increase in value and the possible improvement in marketability.

Because not every technical improvement made to a home produces an equivalent increase in its market value.

For buyers, too, an energy rating should be treated as information rather than a verdict.

A less efficient property can represent a problem or, in certain circumstances, an opportunity to be reflected in the purchase price.

The difference lies in understanding the work required in advance, realistically estimating its cost and determining what level of improvement is technically achievable.

Buying well increasingly means evaluating two properties at the same time: the home that exists today and the home it could become tomorrow.

In our work, we are observing a dynamic worth paying attention to: the market often anticipates the effects of regulatory, technological and cultural change.

A rule does not necessarily need to become an immediate legal obligation before it begins to influence purchasing decisions.

Buyers simply need to start considering it relevant.

And this is probably what is happening with energy efficiency.

For this reason, we believe the Green Homes debate should be approached without alarmism, but it should not be underestimated either.

The most useful question for a property owner is not simply, “Will I be required to carry out renovation work?”

And for a buyer, it should not simply be, “What energy rating does this property have?”

There is a more interesting question:

How will energy consumption, the potential for improvement and future costs affect the desirability and marketability of this property?

Because energy efficiency is no longer simply a technical issue.

It is becoming one of the factors that can influence how easily a property can be sold, financed and maintained over time.

And in the property market, that also means talking about liquidity.