Research reveals that buying a new home could save you up to £220 a month in energy costs alone!

The new report ‘Watt A Save’ is based on a study of over 1.6 million properties including over 1.3 million existing dwellings and around 250,000 new builds all registered with an energy performance certificate in the year to the end of June 2022.  These were mainly properties marketed for sale or rent in the year.  For existing properties, this represents a cross-section of around 1% of all existing homes.

Since 2007, all homes in the UK need to have an Energy Performance Certificate before being sold or let.  In recent years, homes that have high scoring EPCs appear to be more valuable.  Although older homes can be retrofitted to improve efficiency, research from Nationwide finds that the average bill facing those in homes currently rated D or E is over £8,000, and considerably higher for those in properties rated F or G.  The Government has tried, on several occasions, to introduce schemes to retrofit homes and improve energy efficiency but older properties still fail to reach the same standards as new build homes.  Newer homes require much less energy to power and heat and therefore are cheaper to run and better for the environment. 

The research reveals that new build properties use approximately 9094 kWh a year as compared to older properties which use an annual average of 21621 kWh.  This means, on average, the newbuild properties studied in the research cost per £1500 a year to run, just 42% of the cost of an average existing dwelling which would be in the region of £3,567 per year.  Given new properties such as Beechcroft, where energy efficiency is a priority, the savings are even greater – up to 60% less than a similar sized older property.

With the energy price cap set to be reviewed every three months and further increases predicted for January 2023 these costs, and therefore the savings, that the most energy efficient properties see, are likely to soar.   What’s more, with a new Beechcroft home, the service charges cover the maintenance of both private and communal grounds, the cleaning of the communal parts, window cleaning, buildings insurance and the services of an Estate Manager to ensure that your development stays in the best possible condition.  Locations close to shops and services and the use of a free shuttle bus service save on travel costs as well as being convenient. 

If you’ve been thinking about moving for some time, then now could be the right time – especially given the changes to stamp duty when buying a new home.