Purpose: – This study aims to test whether energy performance effects single-family home sale prices. It also examines whether recommendations for supposedly cost-effective energy efficiency measures, by intervention category (construction, installation or operation/control technical measures), are perceived as untapped potential – a real option – that effects sale prices. Design/methodology/approach: – The energy performance measurement and dummy variables for three categories of improvement recommendations are included as explanatory variables in a hedonic regression analysis using transaction data and energy performance certificates data for 1,073 observations. Findings: – Results indicate that better energy performance effects selling prices positively. Energy efficiency recommendations seem to have an impact on sale price; home buyers seem to require a larger “discount” for more complex types of measures. Research limitations/implications: – The sample only includes houses in the Stockholm; so-called sustainable buildings have not been specifically studied; and the heating source has not been accounted for. Originality/value: – The EU energy performance certificates provide new information and measure energy performance more exactly than many earlier (proxy) variables. This is one of the first studies to test the effect of this information, and the first one using Swedish data.

Sweden has a large multifamily housing stock that was built between 1960 and 1975. An important current issue is how this stock can be renovated in a sustainable way. The article analyses a strategy used by a suburban municipal housing company that had clear social ambitions and offered the tenants three options of renovation: Mini, Midi and Maxi. Most tenants chose the Mini alternative which meant that they could afford to stay and that there was no increase in costs for the social authorities. An investment analysis showed that the Mini alternative had a positive net present value, but that the Midi and Maxi alternatives were more profitable. Even though there was no clear environmental focus in the renovation, energy use was reduced by 8%. As a conclusion, the study shows that a sustainable renovation is possible but that there are a number of conflicts between the different dimensions of sustainability.

Sweden has adopted ambitious energy savings objectives for buildings, but at the current rate of energy efficiency investments the objectives are unlikely to be reached. In this article we report the early findings of how real estate owners reason and act in energy efficiency investment decisions. Based on the results from interviews with the real estate companies, the companies have been divided into four ideal types that illuminate the differences in energy efficiency ambition and strategies; the Strict Profit Maximizing Company, the Little Extra Company, the Policy Led Ambitious Company and the Administration Led Ambitious Company. The different strategies will determine how the companies respond to incentives to invest in energy efficiency, and affect the overall result in the energy efficiency work. The ideal types hence are important to have in mind when designing policies to increase energy efficiency.

The way in which we plan and produce buildings today will influence our energy consumption in the future. This paper explores how the types of laundry facilities provided in owner-occupied multi-family buildings in Sweden have changed since the 1990s and seeks to draw attention to how this may impact energy consumption for laundry. Three factors are analyzed that influence energy consumption: the number of laundry appliances, energy performance in laundry appliances and user demand for laundry. The results indicate that there has been a change in building practices, from the domination of communal laundry rooms towards in-unit laundry facilities. The findings imply that the changes in provision of laundry facilities increase the number of appliances but do not necessarily increase energy consumption during the usage phase depending on energy performance and user behavior. Thus, developers should consider laundry facility organization when designing multi-family buildings in order to optimize the use of space and resources, given user demand and building regulations. This paper is exploratory in nature and indicates a shift in building practices that up until now has been undocumented in a research context which in turn opens up for many new research questions related to resource use but also related to the economics of developers, housing firms and households.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion of sustainability and research reporting price premiums for LEED‐certified buildings.Design/methodology/approach: This paper explores the notion of sustainability and research reporting price premiums for LEED‐certified buildings. The durability of certification levels is explored by converting projects developed under the initial NC2‐series system to a new vintage rating adopted in 2009. This conversion is made by applying Lagrangian multipliers to model stochastic impacts.Findings: The study reveals that 18 percent of 591 projects developed under the NC2‐Series were “misclassified” in terms of certification levels when converted to new NCv2009 standards. To the extent the market has pursued LEED certification levels, the unanticipated changes may have led to the adoption short‐term solutions that are inappropriate due to the long‐term nature of real estate assets.Research limitations/implications: Given the complexity of the LEED rating system, it is unknown how the market will react to the lack of durability and approach pricing over the long‐term.Practical implications: The results indicate market participants should adopt a proactive approach to LEED certification.Originality/value: The study identifies significant dynamics in the LEED certification system for new construction and behavioural responses that have not been reported in the literature.