REIA has urged the Australian Government to rethink their approach to sustainability in real estate

The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has called on the government to empower Australian consumers to adopt more ‘sustainable and healthy’ housing practices.

REIA President, Adrian Kelly said in a time where sustainability and health is front of mind, reform in this space needs to be market-led and not driven and mandated by regulatory intervention.

“Decarbonisation, green credentials, energy costs and even building health needs to be at the forefront of policy setting,” Mr Kelly said.

“Up to 73 per cent of global consumers are changing or plan to change their habits to reduce their impact on the environment. 

“In the USA, the majority of home buyers prefer to go green if the option is available – over 60 per cent when it comes to durable materials and passive solar design. 

“As agents, we know and see the conditions of existing housing stock. We know that home owners and investors in this challenging economy need help to transition our homes to be more sustainable which will have flow on benefits to tenants in rentals.

“What you don’t want is a hard stick approach where change is regulated in, potentially disrupting and adversely affecting markets for no reason.”

REIA has developed a new Sustainable Real Estate policy and Mr Kelly said it was an area where governments need to place households at the centre of considerations. 

“Climate and sustainability have become unnecessarily political and complex, and buyers and renters just need the tools to navigate ‘what this means for me’ when it comes to selecting their home,” he said.

“Governments in turn need to incentivise changes in behaviour if they want to improve the overall sustainability of housing stock. 

“Take for example, homes in bushfire or flood zones. These are places where customers and markets should be supported and rewarded to increase their resilience and preparedness.

“HomeBuilder showed us that wild success you can have when you support homeowners achieve their dreams with a one-off grant. 

“So it is logical that the National Recovery and Resilience Agency look at a Homebuilder-style resilience program in areas of Australia that need it the most where affected by severe weather events.

“That is one example of a policy intervention that can be made to drive sustainable and healthy real estate in this country.”

Mr Kelly said the REIA intends to work with key stakeholders, including CSIRO, Geoscience Australia and the insurance and lending sector to better understand challenges in this space. 

REIA’s recommendations

• The introduction of voluntary tools and incentives that will help buyer and seller’s best determine their own preferences for sustainable real estate 
• Insurance costs should be mitigated for home owners, tenants and investors as has been the case for $10 billion dollar North Australian Reinsurance Pool 
• Continued competitiveness and mitigation measures for the insurance industry on an ongoing basis
• A comprehensive data visualisation of how severe weather events will impact Australian housing stock is needed
• Building on the success of Homebuilder, REIA recommended the development of a feasibility study for a resilience-driven (i.e. future proofing existing and new homes against bushfires and floods) Homebuilder scheme under the new National Recovery and Resilience Agency