There is no doubt that the need to upgrade the UK Housing stock to meet the targets set to reduced climate change remains an important issue for UK.
As an industry, it is fair to say that progress is being made to provide support for homeowners through incentivised mortgage products, and propositions that handhold the customer through each stage of the process.
However, there are still some key issues that need to be considered and addressed.
Much of the focus has been on energy efficiency through the use solar panels and heat pumps to reduce consumption of electricity from the national grid, and whilst we all enjoy the current sunny weather, those that have opted for solar panels will be very happy with their choice.
There is another point that is not being spoken about. At the recent Grand Designs event, during a session hosted by Kevin McCloud, it was discussed that there is an issue with the current heat levels in the UK. One of the speakers said that they had needed to move from their loft room to a room on a lower level of their house because the loft room was too hot. In the UK a number of homeowners have converted their lofts into living space, but can they be used because of the heat? For some customers, it is now more about keeping their homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter as cheaply and efficiently as possible. Does this increase the argument and need for installing solar panels to provide the electricity for cooling systems? The specialist providers need to be sharing more information on this, so customers can make more informed choices.
Of course, for many UK Homeowners, making these improvements to their properties requires finance with mortgages being one of the main options. Lenders have responded with a range of products to support customers, but are they really making a difference? How do we know? Well it’s fair to say that lenders have seen some usage of these products, but the full story is not being told. Green products with one lender may not be suitable for a customer compared to a core range product at a cheaper rate from another lender that allows the customer to achieve the same outcome. The problem this creates is that not all lenders capture if borrowing is for Green improvements meaning that a true reflection of ow much retrofit through mortgages isn’t actually known. Lenders need to address this so the industry can truly demonstrate the difference it is making in helping the UK tackle climate change.
