There is a lot of talk about energy conservation these days because of the high energy costs due to the Ukraine war and inflation. Recently, the Spanish government came up with an energy-saving plan for companies and government buildings, but no measures have yet been taken for private individuals. The government wants to reduce gas consumption by 8%. In shops, government buildings and public places such as hotels, the use of air conditioning will be set at a maximum of 27° in the summer and a maximum of 19° in the winter. Automatic doors are mandatory when using air conditioning and lighting in shops must be turned off at 10 pm, public buildings must be darkened when closing. No concrete measures have yet been taken for private homes, but the following certainly stands out in this context.
It appears that the vast majority of homes in Spain will have major energy neutrality problems because they are not energy efficient.
When looking at the mandatory energy labels for homes, most houses do not get off well with classes E, F and G due to lack of thermal insulation that accounts for 40% of energy consumption. The reason for this is that more than half of the homes in Spain were built before 1980.
The vast majority of homes in Spain date from the 1980s and that often makes these homes not energy efficient. If we look at these figures, we can see that, for example, of the total of 8.4 million homes have their own heating and 1.9 million homes have central heating. However, there are 5.3 million homes that do not have fixed heating and heat their homes with electric heaters or other heating systems that are often not energy efficient. There are also 2.5 million homes that do not have heating.
So the problem in Spain is that there are many non-energy efficient homes to be found and they will also be difficult to make energy efficient. According to experts, the best way is to completely renovate these homes and make them energy efficient, but that costs a lot of money. However, the advantage is that these renovated houses will be worth more money and that they will therefore consume less energy and are therefore cheaper to use. Making a home energy efficient can cost between 10 and 50 thousand euros, depending on the condition and size of a home. And all this must of course remain profitable.
The specialists point out improving facades and roofs, rethinking the lighting, changing windows, doors or replacing the boilers, which are just some of the ideas proposed to avoid energy loss. The use of renewable energy sources in the homes is also recommended, with electricity generation technologies such as solar or photovoltaic panels and geothermal or aerothermal technologies for harnessing energy for air conditioning, cooling and heating.
As real estate consultants, we want to point out to our clients the practical consequences of this problem on the market segment of the resale of existing properties.
We should certainly not forget that building regulations have only been in existence in Spain for a little over 10 years, albeit very strict conditions. Even stricter than in our home countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands and France.
But before this, these rules did not exist and in practice one could build just about anything in Spain.
In our opinion, this has a negative impact on the existing housing market segment.
An individual house can be completely renovated and an outdated house completely up to date. Please note that in these cases you will not have an exact estimate of the total cost at the time of purchase and that it is also difficult to find the necessary expert and financially sound companies abroad to carry out the renovations. Which always implies a potential risk factor.
Sublicasa always advises against purchasing resale apartments older than 10 years because the communal areas are usually outdated and will not turn out to be energy efficient in the long run.
Even if your apartment has been completely renovated, the building and the communal areas will not comply with European directives, resulting in a large investment for the owners. And this in order to bring the complex in terms of energy consumption in accordance with legislation into the future.
Conclusion:
1. In our opinion, the purchase of apartments in old(er) complexes is not recommended in terms of return on investment.
2. This problem is certainly an additional reason to opt for new construction nowadays.
Sources: Spain today 11/8/2022, INE