Our research explores the financing opportunities and barriers to energy efficiency renovation in residential buildings. On the basis of interviews with banks and real estate agents in Hungary, we investigated what obstacles might open up the possibility of expanding bank financing to increase renovation investments, if these obstacles were removed.
Our research explores the financing opportunities, incentives and barriers for residential building energy renovation. Energy renovation of buildings is one of the sectors with high potential for energy savings and GHG emission reductions, but at the same time the sector faces a significant investment gap. Related to a renovation wave, the financing of energy renovation will be largely private, with a smaller share coming from public sources (state budget, EU funds), the latter mainly catalyzing private investments.
In our previous study we examined international good practices of private financing of energy renovation. In our current research, we have explored what, if the barriers are removed, could open the way for the necessary private financing to become stronger, which could encourage banks to expand financing and property owners to increase the volume of energy-efficient building renovation investments.
The novelty of the analysis lies in the information provided by senior executives of local banks, financing institutions, and real-estate agents, who often stressed the importance of public involvement. We conducted 11 interviews with relevant organisations between January and March 2024, and summarised lessons learned and common points of view. Interviews were conducted with the heads of the four largest commercial banks (OTP, MBH, Erste, K&H), mainly sustainability managers, the Banking Association, the Hungarian National Bank, the Hungarian Development Bank, Garantiqa Loan Guarantee Ltd. and the three largest real estate brokers (ingatlan.com, Otthon Centrum, Duna House), mainly managers responsible for valuation and energy certificates.
Our recommendations will be communicated to decision-makers and the study will also serve as a discussion starter for our building renovation conference on the 9th of October 2024.
A magánfinanszírozás lehetőségei és akadályai a hazai lakóépületek felújításában