Hanna Szemző and Éva Gerőházi presented the findings of a representative residential survey at the annual conference of the European Network of Housing Researchers in Delft on August 27, 2024. This survey, conducted in October-November 2023 as part of the Budapest Cares project, aimed to gain deeper insights into residents’ attitudes towards renovating their properties in Budapest.
The in-person survey focused on property owners who reside in their homes, gathering information on various aspects, including the condition of their buildings, energy costs, renovation plans, willingness to pay for energy-efficient renovations, and the types of assistance they would need to accelerate the renovation process.
The results were somewhat surprising: 70-80% of property owners neither plan nor consider it necessary to implement any form of energy-efficient renovation in their family houses or multi-apartment flats. Additionally, 85% of owners living in multi-family buildings would not be willing to pay for energy-efficient renovations in common areas.
Two main reasons explain these findings:
- Nearly half of the respondents believe their building already meets the most recent energy standards or has high energy efficiency (though in reality, less than 2% of this housing stock likely complies with the latest standards).
- About one-third of respondents feel so financially vulnerable that they cannot even consider renovation, even if subsidies were available.
The survey was conducted at the peak of inflation, and many Budapest residents may have found that the increase in energy prices beyond the “average” consumption level had little impact on them. As a result, financing daily living expenses became a higher priority than energy efficiency. However, the findings indicate that there is still room for public sector intervention. In addition to essential subsidies, increasing public awareness and knowledge about the benefits of energy efficiency is crucial.
Please find the Study here.