Scoring system in pipeline to rate houses

Jane Henley

Fridges have them, televisions have them, now houses are in line for rating labels revealing at a glance how energy efficient they are.

A group of housing consultancies is working on a new scoring system that could tell homeowners, renters and house-hunters how comfortable and cheap running a home will be.

The "health and comfort" scorecards could be handed out to potential buyers at open homes and, if they become popular, could penalise the roughly one million, mostly older New Zealand homes that do not meet modern building standards.

The project is a joint initiative between the Green Building Council, housing research group Beacon Pathway and building consultancy company Branz.

Homes will be rated out of 10 for overall performance on factors such as insulation and dampness, how much natural light they receive and how much water their inhabitants are likely to use because of the design of the house.

Green Building Council chief executive Jane Henley said the scores could add 5 per cent to the value of well-insulated and well-designed homes, based on the success of similar schemes in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Homeowners who do not want to pay for a test would be able to get a rough idea of their home's snugness by filling out an online questionnaire.

To get the official rating, homeowners would have to pay a fee of $500 to $1000 for a professional check.

Ms Henley said the check would start by scoring basic things such as insulation, then assess more complicated factors - such as whether the home contains toxic materials or is well designed for easy attachment of solar panels or rain-water storage systems - for a higher score.

Ms Henley said 80 per cent of homes would rate a two or three on the scale at the moment.

The goal is to upgrade all homes to at least a four or five - enough to meet current building regulations - by harnessing consumer pressure to spur additional spending by vendors.

The Government has agreed with the Green Party to fund a home insulation package, after dumping a 15-year $1 billion home insulation fund agreed to by Labour.

Details of the scheme are expected to be revealed in this month's Budget.

A ShapeNZ study of 2610 New Zealanders, commissioned by the business council last month, found 71 per cent of homeowners thought their homes could be warmer and more comfortable.

But 59 per cent said they could not afford improvements.

A study presented last year by the Centre for Research Evaluation and Social Assessment (Cresa) showed more than a fifth of New Zealand living rooms were colder than 16C on a winter evening - a level that interfered with the respiratory system and put strain on the heart.

The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum temperature for living areas of 18C - or 21C if there are babies, children or elderly people in the house.