How household energy scores are helping home buyers and sellers

Household energy scores are gaining traction in Australia, helping home buyers understand how much properties cost to run and revealing how much sellers have invested in efficiency upgrades. It comes as Aussies are increasingly looking at ways to make their homes more energy efficient in a bid to cut their power bills and do their bit for the environment. Four in five Australians indicated they already had energy efficiency features installed in their home, up 4% year-on-year, according to the 2026 realestate.com.au Residential Audience Pulse survey. The survey, which captured the views of 2,957 participants, also revealed about 69% of Australians were planning to invest in home energy improvements within the next five years, up from 65% recorded a year ago. Household energy scores from platforms such as VALAI are becoming a popular tool to measure home efficiency features and help people compare one property to another. VALAI holds property-level data on more than 14 million homes across Australia, generating scores automatically without anyone visiting the property or fitting a device. From there, homeowners can sharpen their own score by confirming details about their home and a...