Green mortgages to become the ‘norm’
March 23, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
Gordon Brown announced during his Budget yesterday that people who take out a mortgage on a carbon-neutral home will no longer have to pay any stamp duty.
This news, announced during what is widely expected to be the Chancellor’s final Budget, was welcomed by many as the kind of financial break that is needed to encourage us all to reduce our carbon footprint.
In light of the announcement, the Co-operative Bank has revealed that it believes eco home loans will soon become the norm in the UK.
The firm is so confident that environmental concerns will have a big impact on the future of mortgage lending that it is planning to update its current green portfolio.
“We plan to extend our green mortgage proposition, which is currently available on all our products, by developing an innovative solution to reward and encourage homeowners to actively reduce their CO2 emissions,” revealed David Anderson, chief executive at the bank.
“We are convinced that green mortgages will be the most common form of home loan in the future and that is why we are working on several features that will make our range even more eco-friendly.”
A number of other lenders have also confirmed that they too will be extending their current portfolio of green loans.
The Co-operative Bank’s claim that eco home loans will be the norm in the future has been supported by a recent survey, carried out by More Than insurance, which revealed that 70 per cent of Brits wants all new build homes to be carbon neutral.
A fifth of all Brits also said that they would be willing to pay more for an environmentally-friendly home.
