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The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) is behind a new push to improve sustainability in the real estate industry, calling for voluntary tools and incentives to empower buyers and sellers to make their own green choices.
The institute has led a call for all levels of governments to “empower Australian consumers to adopt more sustainable and healthy housing practices”, but at the same time, flagged that reform in the space “needs to be market-led”.
Acknowledging agents as well placed to lead such a transition to “more sustainable and healthy housing”, REIA president Adrian Kelly said “as agents, we know and see the conditions of existing housing stock”.
“We know that home owners and investors in this challenging economy need help to transition our homes to be more sustainable which will have flow-on benefits to tenants,” he said.
He believes that buyer and seller preferences will naturally drive growth in sustainable housing stock, with much more likelihood of success where changes are incentivised by governments.
He noted that research from the United States of America has shown more than 60 per cent of home buyers “prefer to go green if the option is available” — ideally through the use of durable materials and passive solar design.
He also highlighted that “up to 73 per cent of global consumers are or plan to change their habits to reduce their impact on the environment”.
“HomeBuilder showed us that wild success you can have when you support home owners achieve their dreams with a one-off grant,” Mr Kelly said.
The stance has seen the REIA to develop its own “sustainable real estate” policy, while it looks to engage with key stakeholders, including CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, and players within the insurance and lending sector, “to better understand challenges in this space”.
The five major aspects of REIA’s sustainable real estate policy include:
- Supporting the introduction of voluntary tools and incentives to help buyers and sellers “best determine their own preferences for sustainable real state”.
- Mitigating the costs of insurance for home owners, tenants and investors, as has occurred with the $10 billion North Australian reinsurance pool.
- Supporting the “continued competitiveness and mitigation measures” for the insurance industry on an ongoing basis.
- Highlighting the need for comprehensive data visualisation around severe weather events and the impact on housing stock.
- Supporting the development of a feasibility study for a resilience-driven HomeBuilder-style scheme under the new National Recovery and Resilience Agency, which would see existing and new homes future-proofed against fires and floods.
