The latest internal data from Searchland reveals that the City of London and Peterborough are home to the most energy efficient properties in Great Britain based on average EPC rating.
Searchland has analysed its own data on average EPC ratings for all of Britain’s Local Planning Authority areas to reveal which parts of the country have the most energy efficient homes for buyers who are looking to minimise their carbon footprint and reduce household bills.
Regeneration projects are setting the standard
The data starts by revealing that there are only three British Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) in which homes have an average EPC rating higher than C, and that all three of them are either centres of major regeneration or new town development projects.
In Ebbsfleet Garden City, a major development aiming to complete the delivery of a brand new garden city by 2035, homes have an average EPC score of 84/100, creating an overall rating of B.
In the West London regeneration project of Old Oak and Park Royal, homes have an average score of 81/100, again creating an overall average EPC rating of B.
And in East London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, an average score of 80/100 also gives an average rating of B.
The ten most efficient non-regeneration areas
Outside of these regeneration projects, nowhere can boast an average EPC rating of more than C.
With this in mind, the most energy efficient areas of Britain are the City of London and Peterborough, both of which have an average EPC score of 76/100 to give an average rating of C.
Tower Hamlets has an average score of 75 while Hackney scores 73, giving both areas an average rating of C.
The other areas of the country where homes have an average EPC rating of C with a score of more than 70 are Westminster (71), Greenwich (71), Southwark (71), Crawley (71), and Milton Keynes (71). Meanwhile, homes in Bath & North East Somerset have an average score of 70.
Most affordable of high energy efficiency areas
Of these ten most energy efficient areas, Peterborough offers the most affordable house prices* for homebuyers, with the city’s current average sitting at just £232,299.
Crawley’s average house price sits at £324,823, while prices in Milton Keynes (£329,196), Bath & North East Somerset (£409,166), and Greenwich (£481,156) all come in at less than half a million.
But all of the remaining energy efficient areas command an average price of more than £500,000.
Least energy efficient areas
As a point of note, the least energy efficient markets are located in six LPA areas where average overall EPC rating is E.
They are Yorkshire Dales National Park (46), Snowdonia National Park (48), North York Moors National Park (49), Exmoor National Park (52), Na h-Eileanan Siar (53), and Northumberland National Park (53).
Co-founder of Searchland, Hugh Gibbs, commented:
“It’s clear from this data that energy efficiency is being driven by the new-build market. We’ve got major regeneration projects leading the way and setting the standard with an impressive average EPC of B, but outside of this, we’re also seeing the strongest C ratings in areas where a large number of new-build homes are being delivered, which is why London dominates the list.
But ensuring new-builds are energy efficient is an easy task compared to improving the standard of old and existing stock, as demonstrated by the fact that the worst average EPC scores are found in our National Parks where new-build construction is widely forbidden.
And while ensuring good new-build efficiency is the job of developers, it falls to homeowners to fund and complete the work required to improve EPC rating across existing homes.
So while developers certainly have a big part to play, we are still largely dependent on the willingness of homeowners to truly reduce the carbon footprint of Britain’s residential property.”
