Barriers to include sustainability in the UK valuation practice

Issues related to sustainability and climate change have widely generated the interest of both academics and practitioners. The negative impacts of climate change are now substantiated through scientific evidence. The built environment is one of the major carbon emitters in any economy that could have a clear impact towards the battle against climate change. Though much research has been initiated to reduce carbon emissions from the built environment or to make it more sustainable, it is not well known to what extent commercial property valuers are incorporating sustainability and climate change issues while valuing properties. Valuation advice produced by professional valuers are used by investors, occupiers and lender and therefore, if these advice lack in terms of sustainability, it could have far reached impacts within the built environment. Though some research has been initiated in Australia, in the UK research is scarce on valuers’ perception of sustainability. To understand that research was undertaken at the University of Reading as part of a PhD thesis using a mixed methods approach that included a Survey and 32 Interviews of valuers, investors, owner occupiers and lenders. Among other things, this research found some challenges faced by valuers in the UK that are working as barriers to incorporate sustainability in the valuation methodology. These include valuers’ reliance on third party for data such as EPC upgrade cost and environmental assessments, lack of data related to sustainability of the subject property as well as comparable property, lack of evidence for sustainability premiums or discounts, issues related to time constrains, fees, costs and client’s pressure, lack of education and training of valuers on sustainability and climate change issues as well as the use of traditional methodology to value properties. Addressing and working on these challenges are paramount to move forward for a more sustainable future.