Sixty Per Cent of Homeowners Not Interested in Environmental Issues Reveal ThinkProperty.com
ThinkProperty.com reveal that 60% of homeowners think there are more important things to worry about than being green.
(PRWEB) August 5, 2007 -- Only one in six home movers believe that the introduction of HIPs (Home Information Packs) will speed up the buying process and just one-third believe they are a good idea, according to a new survey by thinkproperty.com, a major new, independent consumer property portal which offers estate agents an online sales and marketing channel to deliver better value, improved lead generation and excellence in customer service.
The survey, which had over 3,100 respondents, revealed that more than one-third of home movers are confused about Home Information Packs and one-third of homeowners were not aware of their introduction in June. A third of respondents believe HIPs will slow down the property market, 20 per cent commented that HIPs will increase property prices (http://www.thinkproperty.com/soldhouseprices.htm ), 17 per cent believe HIPs will lower property prices and 30 per cent believe that the introduction of HIPs will not change how they buy property (http://www.thinkproperty.com/findanagent.htm ).
In spite of home movers' lack of support for HIPs, the vast majority would modify their property to make it 'green' if the Government incentivised this with offers of green mortgages and lower council tax. Over two-thirds of home movers do not believe the Government is doing enough to build greener homes, and 60 per cent say the same of new home developers.
One hundred per cent of respondents agreed that the Government should help home owners to fund fuel efficient boilers to improve energy efficiency, followed by roof insulation (80 per cent), double glazing (70 per cent), solar panels (61 per cent) and wall insulation (47 per cent). Just seventeen per cent felt that the Government should financially help home owners with energy improving devices.
However, the results highlighted a general lack of interest in green properties, with sixty per cent claiming that they didn't want more information on green property issues. In fact, less than two-thirds of home movers claimed to be interested in the environment, with nearly 60 per cent commenting that 'there are more important things to be worrying about'. The view from one in five respondents was that it is too expensive to switch to environmentally friendly products, with over one-quarter of home movers commenting that 'the only people that are interested in the environment are sandal-wearing hippies'.
Already, 70 per cent of home movers claim to have double glazing, 60 per cent have roof insulation, 57 per cent use low energy light bulbs and 40 per cent run a fuel efficient boiler. Over two-thirds of home movers claim to recycle and three quarters say they switch off all unused lights.
Low energy lighting should be compulsory for all new home builds according to over 70 per cent of respondents, followed by solar panels (55 per cent) and grey water systems (42 per cent).
Mark Goddard, Managing Director of the property portal (http://www.thinkproperty.com/) comments: "Clearly the introduction of HIPs is not popular with home movers and many think that the Government should be doing more to help home owners improve the energy efficiency of their homes."
About ThinkProperty
ThinkProperty.com (http://www.thinkproperty.com/) provides an accountable marketing channel to today's modern property professional and already averages 400,000 property details available from around the UK every day.
ThinkProperty.com is owned by Trader Media Group which has an unrivalled reputation for bringing buyers and sellers together in huge numbers through its dealer software products and market leading consumer websites and magazines.
For further information, please contact:
Karen Hughes
The Drum Consultancy
18, Soho Square
London
W1D 3QL
0207 025 8044
http://www.thinkproperty.com/
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