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Not so Myopic Consumers - Evidence on Capitalization of Energy Technologies in a Housing Market

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  • Oskari Harjunen
  • Matti Liski

Abstract

Policies affecting the cost of energy use provide correct incentives for technology choices only if there is a market reward for energy efficiency. We provide clean evidence for market efficiency by considering how heating technologies capitalize into house values using detailed Finnish register data on technologies in houses, transaction prices and socio-economic variables. We exploit variation in technologies that houses are locked into at construction time to identify the stand-alone value of having a cost-saving technology in the house. For the two main technologies, electric and district heating, the estimated price discount is 5-6% of the house value for electric heating, coming very close to the capitalized value of the cost differ-ential obtained from external data on energy contract prices. Technologies act as “labels” with clear market valuation - the results support the idea that transparent energy-efficiency classification of houses capitalize into house prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Oskari Harjunen & Matti Liski, 2014. "Not so Myopic Consumers - Evidence on Capitalization of Energy Technologies in a Housing Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 4989, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4989
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Andreas Mense, 2018. "The Value of Energy Efficiency and the Role of Expected Heating Costs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(3), pages 671-701, November.
    2. Sieger, Lisa & Weber, Christoph, 2023. "Inefficient markets for energy efficiency? – The efficiency premium puzzle in the German rental housing market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    3. Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan, 2020. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Sahari, Anna, 2017. "Electricity Prices and Consumers' Long-Term Technology Choices: Evidence from Heating Investments," Working Papers 95, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Pride, Dominique & Little, Joseph & Mueller-Stoffels, Marc, 2018. "The value of residential energy efficiency in interior Alaska: A hedonic pricing analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 450-460.
    6. Taruttis, Lisa & Weber, Christoph, 2022. "Inefficient Markets for Energy Efficiency - Empirical Evidence from the German Rental Housing Market," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264056, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Sahari, Anna, 2021. "Household heterogeneity in valuation of heating energy costs," Working Papers 141, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet, 2018. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to building energy savings," Working Papers 2018.07, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    9. Sahari, Anna, 2019. "Electricity prices and consumers’ long-term technology choices: Evidence from heating investments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 19-53.
    10. Sandler, Ryan, 2018. "You can't take it with you: Appliance choices and the energy efficiency gap," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 327-344.
    11. Fuerst, Franz & Oikarinen, Elias & Harjunen, Oskari, 2016. "Green signalling effects in the market for energy-efficient residential buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 560-571.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    energy efficiency; energy paradox; discounting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

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