An Attempt to Determine the Impact of Energy Intensity on the Market Value of Residential Units on the Example of Selected Buildings in Szczecin

Environmental requirements, constantly increasing energy prices as well as energy consumption by residential units and buildings have become an important factor in the decision-making processes in the real estate market. The preferences of residential unit buyers who recognize the problem of energy intensity and translate it into the transaction price have also been changing. However, amendments to the Act on real estate management and new European standards have imposed an obligation to include the certificates of energy performance of buildings and premises on real estate valuers in the valuation process. In this paper, energy intensity understood as the heating requirements of multi-family residential buildings is the basis for assessing the impact of the proposed variants on the market value of residential units. The paper analyzes the energy intensity of various types of buildings (e.g. in low and high buildings) and its impact on the market value of residential units in a selected housing estate in Szczecin, when the property valuer has access to energy performance certificates of neither the unit under valuation nor the units selected for comparison. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the energy intensity and the market value of residential units. The proposed three models of real estate market value: non-classical, multiple regression and average price adjustment taking into account energy intensity, obtain results consistent with the actual transaction price at a satisfactory level. The assessment was made using standard deviation, a coefficient of variation and the average error of forecasts.