Fuel estimation tool
Research by the Lenders Group conducted among borrowers last year, meanwhile, suggested that more than 80 per cent of UK respondents described themselves as either very or quite likely to purchase a green mortgage. The firm argued that current lender calculations take no account of how fuel bills vary depending on the energy efficiency of a property. Lenders, it suggested, should use better estimates to demonstrate that monies not committed to fuel costs in low-energy homes could be used to support higher maximum mortgage lending amounts.
Barclays is not the first lender to offer a ‘green’ mortgage. Ecology Building Society and Norwich & Peterborough, for example, have long offered mortgage products incentivising borrowers to make their homes more energy efficient. However, Barclays’ new product does represent something of a breakthrough in that it is the first major lender to offer such a mortgage. For those tasked with pushing the green agenda in the UK housing sector, it represents a development in the right direction.
