Market and consumer insights

Turning ratings data into market intelligence

Home Energy Rating data contributes to valuable insights into how energy efficiency influences consumer behaviour and the housing market. Ratings help reveal what buyers and renters value most – comfort, lower running costs and long-term savings – and show how these preferences are shaping demand for higher-performing homes.

As buyers and renters place greater value on comfort, energy efficiency and affordability, energy efficiency is becoming a key driver of housing demand. For the finance sector, this same data provides powerful insight into portfolio risk and resilience.

Lenders are increasingly using Home Energy Rating data to understand the climate-related risks associated with their mortgage portfolios – identifying homes that may face higher running costs and associated greenhouse gas emissions, lower resilience to extreme weather and/or reduced value over time.

Home Energy Rating assessments support a more informed market where homeowners, investors and lenders can all make decisions that balance comfort, cost and long-term sustainability.

Points to consider when using ratings:

• always verify the certificate is valid and current on the CSIRO certificate portal 

• compare against benchmarks and state or territory averages for context
• consider how ratings align with other factors such as location, property age and renovation history

Interpreting ratings against benchmarks ensures they can be confidently incorporated into risk assessments and valuation models, which adds clarity to a property’s performance profile.

Making ratings part of the conversation

For maximum impact in the market, ratings need to be visible and well understood. Promoting awareness of home energy ratings helps ensure that buyers, sellers, renters, rental providers, valuers and lenders all recognise the role they play as a trusted benchmark.

How this can be achieved:

• encourage disclosure of a rating at point of sale and lease 
• use clear, consistent language when explaining the benefits of higher ratings
• support education campaigns that link ratings to comfort, savings and value
• promoting getting an assessment pre-sale to sellers/agents and pre-lease to rental providers/property managers.

By actively promoting awareness, real estate professionals, valuers and lenders can help shift the market toward greater recognition of energy-smart homes. This not only supports better consumer outcomes but also builds long-term confidence in the housing sector.

Tracking ratings over time

Home Energy Rating certificates are stored in a centralised database creating a verified record of a property’s rating. This allows valuers and lenders to confirm a rating’s validity and track how it changes over time.

Work is underway to develop a publicly accessible Home Energy Rating web look-up register, which will allow valuers, lenders and others to confirm a rating’s validity and track how it changes over time.

Why this is valuable:

• ratings may change after major renovations, upgrades or extensions
• a history of ratings provides evidence of improvements 
• access to ratings and certificates ensures assessments are transparent and defensible.

For valuers, rating records can be used as supporting documentation in property assessments. 

For lenders, they provide assurance that loan decisions are based on the most up-to-date and accurate information. 

Recognising Home Energy Rating assessments in lending and valuation processes, can help drive demand for energy-efficient housing. It can also align portfolios with sustainability goals and respond to growing consumer and regulatory expectations around environmental concerns.