The impact of energy costs on the value of Dordogne property

The other day I had a telephone enquiry from someone considering installing solar panels for heating their house in the Dordogne countryside. She asked whether it would make a difference to the value of the house.

I told her that, in the present market, you could not reckon on recovering your investment in energy-saving heating on a sale. In other words, a house that is worth 350,000 euros will not suddenly be worth 360,000 euros if you spend 10,000 euros on energy-saving heating.

At the same time, there can be no doubt that a house that has an economical form of heating will be more attractive to buyers than one that doesn't. Going back to what I've written before about the state of the market: supply currently exceeds demand, so if you want to sell that Dordogne house of yours you will need to make it more attractive than the other properties on offer. If a house comes up for sale that has annual heating costs of a few hundred euros it will be more attractive than an identical property where annual energy bills are in the thousands.

Trend towards greater importance of energy consumption

The current issue of La Revue Bleue, the magazine sent to members of the French estate agents' association FNAIM, contains a detailed examination of the property market in France. A note about changing attitudes to energy consumption caught my attention. It appears that the question of a property's energy consumption is becoming increasingly important when people are deciding whether to make a purchase. A survey established that it was an "important factor" for more than 90% of French buyers and "very important" for 50%.

We have noticed that buyers are increasingly put off by houses without central heating. But I think it is likely to go a little further than this.

At the end of a long hard winter we are all looking at ways in which we can economise on our heating costs. Insulation, double glazing and more efficient boilers are all on our lists. For the more adventurous there are reversible heating systems, solar heating and geothermal solutions. All of which have a cost, even if government subsidies are taken into account. Nor will they necessarily be appropriate in all cases. But the cost of heating is becoming more important to each of us. And it will necessarily be the same for buyers in due course.

There is no doubt that in the current market an efficient central heating system will make your house a more attractive option to sell. An old boiler and single glazing will be minus points. But I think that the trend noted in La Revue Bleue will take matters to a new stage. In time, energy-efficient heating is likely to become the norm, and buyers will expect houses to be properly equipped. If it is not, the price is likely to be downgraded by the amount a buyer considers he will have to invest to achieve a reasonable heating bill.

So you have a choice: either do something now and maintain the value of your Dordogne property, or leave it and suffer the consequences when you come to sell. And while you wait, the bills continue to come through that drafty letterbox.…