The impact of energy certification on the real estate market: an analysis using Big Data and hedonic pricing

This study analyses the effect of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) on residential buildings in Padua (Italy). Introduced by the 2002/91/EC Directive, EPCs became mandatory in European Union countries for buildings at sale or lease. Using web-scraping we collected 5,188 real estate offers in 2022 and 2023, of which 1,738 were in the ‘apartment’ category and suitable for data analysis. We examined EPC effects on prices both in aggregate terms (2022–2023 combined) and by year, to test short-run stability. Results confirm previous findings: a price premium emerges as energy classes improve, with the highest values for top EPC ratings. While most housing characteristics showed stable short-run effects, EPC classes revealed a stronger and more significant impact over time, especially for lower energy classes.