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published: 6/6/2016
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Calling all householders! Researchers seek your help to create "greener" mortgages

Today the partners on a green mortgage research project called LENDERS are asking householders for their help to complete a survey that aims to gather key information on homes, their energy ratings and their actual energy bills.

LENDERS is an Innovate UK funded research project chaired by Nationwide Building Society and involving mortgage lenders, building industry experts, green energy groups and sustainability bodies. It looks at ways of moving away from current estimates of energy costs in the mortgage lending process and towards more detailed affordability calculations based on the individual property.

The data gathered will be used to create more accurate information on energy costs and affordability that feeds into the mortgage lending process. Such detailed data could allow lenders to acknowledge that smaller fuel costs could allow more to be borrowed on the mortgage, encourage buyers towards more efficient buildings and potentially reflect the added value of such properties.

BRE’s Andy Sutton who is Project Lead on LENDERS said ‘The survey is critical to the success of our project - the more people who complete the better informed we will be. It takes about 4 minutes to complete and all information gathered will be treated confidentially and will only be used to inform this project. We need to build a large evidence base, so we’d like to urge people to share the survey with friends and family.’

To complete the survey respondents are asked to have their recent fuel bills and their home’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) to refer to, but if these are not available the survey can still be completed. The survey can be found here [http://tinyurl.com/jc7wjqa ]


For further information please contact Peter White, BRE, email peter.white@bre.co.uk


NOTES TO EDITOR

LENDERS

The LENDERS project derives from two reports into construction, lending and energy efficiency. One was produced by BRE Wales and funded by The Wales Low/Zero Carbon Hub,while another piece of work was produced by UK GBC in partnership with UCL. Now a wider group is expanding on the earlier research to create a larger study into the feasibility of influencing property choices and lending practices through energy efficiency.

Partners include: Nationwide Building Society, BRE, Principality Building Society, UK Green Building Council, Constructing Excellence in Wales, Energy Saving Trust, Arup and University College London (UCL).Further information can be found at www.epcmortgage.org.uk

BRE: We are a world leading building science centre and the authority on all aspects of the built environment. We generate new knowledge through research that is used to create products, tools and standards that drive positive change across the built environment. We enable our government and private sector clients to meet the environmental, social and economic challenges they face by delivering higher performing, better quality, safer, more secure and more sustainable products homes, buildings and communities. We are owned by the BRE Trust, a registered charity, which funds research and education that advances knowledge of the built environment.  We are committed to building a better world together. We are BRE. www.bre.co.uk

Innovate UK is the UK's innovation agency. We work with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. We’re an organisation of around 250 staff, drawn mainly from business and with a head office in Swindon. www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk/

Nationwide Building Society is the world's largest building society as well as one of the largest savings providers and a top-three provider of mortgages in the UK.  It is also a major provider of current accounts, credit cards, ISAs and personal loans.  Nationwide has around 15 million customers. Customers can manage their finances in branch, on the telephone, internet and post.  The Society has around 17,000 employees.  Nationwide's head office is in Swindon with administration centres based in Northampton, Bournemouth and Dunfermline.  The Society also has a number of call centres across the UK.

Nationwide is acknowledged as one of the leading European financial institutions for ‘green’ mortgage lending. The Society’s Green Further Advance allows all existing mortgage customers to take out loans of between £5,000 and £20,000 to undertake approved energy efficiency measures such as cavity wall insulation, rated boiler installation and solar panels. Loans benefit from a 0.25% rate reduction on Nationwide’s existing range of two-year fixed rate and tracker further advance deals, with current rates starting from 1.64% and 1.49% respectively. www.nationwide.co.uk


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