Optimising lifecycle costs is becoming more important but only one in five European real estate investors feel there are clear evaluation criteria for sustainable buildings in their respective countries, according to research carried out by German proeprty company Union Investment.
Optimising lifecycle costs is becoming more important but only one in five European real estate investors feel there are clear evaluation criteria for sustainable buildings in their respective countries, according to research carried out by German proeprty company Union Investment.
'When evaluating the sustainability of properties, it seems that investors still have to live with a lack of precise data. Although there is an emerging set of metrics in Europe which companies use to examine the ecological sustainability of their real estate holdings, just 20% of European real estate professionals feel there are clear evaluation criteria for sustainable buildings in their respective countries,' the open-ended fund manager said. This was the main conclusion of a follow-up study commissioned by Union Investment involving a representative sample of 167 property investors in Germany, France and the UK. Compared to last year's survey an already low value has fallen by a further 5%.
The report found that there have also been major changes to the ranking of key metrics used by investors to assess the sustainability of their properties. Calculation of lifecycle costs came second after primary energy consumption, which was rated as a 'particularly important metric' by 83% of those polled. A total of 67% of investors (prior year: 58%) attach particularly high significance to lifecycle costs. Awareness of the need for active management and optimisation of lifecycle costs grew particularly strongly among German property investors (80% agreement) last year.
In the UK and France, the lifecycle costs metric is rated as important by a significantly smaller number, namely 64%and 46% respectively.
