Effects of Green Labelling on Residential Property Prices : An empirical study of the municipality of Malmö

Abstract: To reduce environmental impact from the real estate sector, improving energy performance and promoting the use of eco-labels are among essential elements. Understanding the relationship between the green initiatives, and their impact on property prices provides valuable insights into consumer preferences and market dynamics, from the perspective of asymmetric information. By applying a hedonic price regression on real estate prices in Malmö, the economic premium associated with energy efficiency and eco-labels are estimated over a five-year period to capture the development regarding green initiatives.  The aim of the thesis was twofold, to measure the economic premium of energy efficiency and eco-labels on residential housing in Malmö. The economic premium were found to be premium for energy efficient apartments, whereas the amount was found to decrease in relative terms between the examined years. The eco-label effect on apartments was found to be negative in 2015 and statistically insignificant in 2020. Single family houses showed no significant effect in the measured attributes.  The analysis of the data revealed that labelled housing is found to be clustered within highly populated areas, and not exclusively associated with higher income areas in the context of Malmö.