Consumer Insights Appendix – Summary Insights per country – Green Mortgage Propositions 2022

Across European markets, there is a need for flexibility and transparency when it comes to developing energy efficiency mortgages. Each market has important differences in context and outlook, and within each market different households are at different stages in their journey, so a highly flexible proposition is needed to answer these diverse needs.

Simplicity is also a key requirement. Especially in eastern Europe, where there can be greater cynicism around the type of bureaucracy implied by things like EPC certification. The easier the process, and the more control homeowners can have, the greater the reassurance. 

Additionally, markets with higher mortgage costs may expect larger discounts – such that the discount represents a meaningful proportion of the total interest burden. Against a 5% interest rate, a 0.3% discount feels underwhelming; but something closer to 0.7-1.0% becomes quite meaningful. 

There is also scope for government/EU initiatives to aid in take up of green mortgage products – the impact of a clearly communicated initiative can be seen in Italy with the Superbonus scheme, which combines with the benefits of the Green Mortgage to give consumers a wide-ranging, appealing proposition. 

Lastly, the proposition has the greatest breadth and the greatest potential impact if it incentivises consumers not only to choose more efficient homes, but also to make their own home more efficient – leveraging the financial benefits of the product alongside environmental benefits is likely to have greatest impact on take-up. By combining these learnings from our qualitative research, we were able to devise an optimised proposition with very broad, strong appeal and relevance across markets.