"For landlords, the challenge is balancing compliance with cost and potential value appreciation, and for renters, it's about finding homes that deliver real savings"
- Colleen Babcock - Rightmove
The energy efficiency of homes continues to improve, but the UK's rental market has not progressed any quicker than the resale market, despite rental policy pushes.
Rightmove's 2025 Greener Homes Report reveals that although the rental sector's total property stock is more energy efficient than the resale sector, legislation and proposals to legislate further in rentals have not led to an acceleration in green improvements. Both markets have seen a 3% year-on-year jump in the proportion of homes with at least an EPC rating of C, reaching 58% of homes for rent and 46% of homes for sale.
Despite the 2020 policy push, which introduced a minimum EPC E requirement for rental properties and proposed a future EPC C mandate, the latest five-year view shows momentum has slowed. This suggests short-term schemes and proposals alone are not enough to overcome cost and complexity barriers.
Progress has almost halved over the past five years, compared to the previous five-year period in both the rental and resale markets. In the rental market, the proportion of homes with EPC C ratings or above increased from 41% to 52% between 2015 and 2020. However, from 2020 to 2025, that proportion only grew from 52% to 58%.
The resale market followed a similar pattern. Between 2015 and 2020, the proportion of homes with EPC C ratings or above increased from 29% to 40%. From 2020 to 2025, the figure rose from 40% to 46%. Notably, 3% of the progress in both markets over the past five years has come over the past year alone. While this is a positive sign, it remains to be seen if this recent pace of progress will continue.
A regional view shows that disparities persist, with London leading the rental market at 66% of properties at EPC C or above, while Wales lags at 48%. The North West has seen the biggest decade-long rental improvement at 23%, while the South West records the slowest at 11%.
Rightmove's fourth annual Greener Homes Report highlights the benefit of greener homes for those who can afford to make changes, and that it is increasingly being used as a selling point. Mentions of green technology in property listings on Rightmove are climbing, with heat pumps up 46% and solar panels up 37% year-on-year.
The financial case for energy efficiency is compelling. Homes for sale rated EPC A have average annual energy bills of £571, compared with £6,368 for properties rated EPC G. Saving money on energy bills continues to be the biggest motivator for making green upgrades, with 83% saying it is their main motivation. Additionally, 42% of people cite carbon footprint reduction as a key driver to making green changes.
Of those making green changes, almost six in ten say they are motivated to do so for a better quality of life. Almost a third believe green upgrades add value to their home, and nearly one in five feel adding green technology makes their property more attractive to future buyers.
Despite the availability of government grants, 63% of people have no plans to make green upgrades in the next twelve months, and just one in ten are acting to access grants. This shows that while the benefits are clear, even financial incentives alone are not enough for widespread uptake.
The report also reveals a significant knowledge gap. While 84% of people say EPC ratings matter, 63% of renters and 50% of homeowners do not know their property's EPC rating.
"Policy ambition hasn't translated into real-world acceleration," said Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove. "We might have expected green improvements to speed up in the rental sector following policy pushes, but the data shows progress over the past five years has been slower than the previous five."
"For landlords, the challenge is balancing compliance with cost and potential value appreciation, and for renters, it's about finding homes that deliver real savings. Energy efficiency isn't just good for the planet, it's good for the pocket too, and making it easier to achieve will be key to unlocking faster change."
