29 May 2025
Domain’s headline says it all: Green homes go mainstream. It’s one we’ve waited years to read.
The 2025 Sustainability in Property Report, published this week by Domain, finds energy-efficient homes are a top priority for buyers across all budgets and postcodes. On average, they are selling for $118,000 more – that’s a 14.5% premium over non-efficient homes.
Buyers want lower energy bills, year-round comfort and a lighter environmental footprint – and this is echoed in our Rise and Thrive report, unveiled in February in partnership with Gateway Bank. We found eight in 10 buyers consider sustainability features “critical” or “important”.
Australians want sustainable homes. But energy efficiency isn’t the whole story.
This month we launched Our Homes Weigh a Tonne, which finds the average new all-electric Australian home generates 185 tonnes of carbon emissions during construction — equivalent to driving a petrol car around Australia 185 times. That same home will emit 24 tonnes over 60 years in operation, and close to zero if powered by solar.
In other words, most of the damage is done before move-in day.
Australians build the biggest homes in the world. Bigger homes mean more materials, more energy, more emissions. As we push to deliver 1.2 million new homes by 2029, we must build smarter and faster. But we must also build smaller.
This month I visited Ed.Square, Frasers Property’s 6 Star Green Star – Communities neighbourhood in South West Sydney. The apartments are 5 Star Green Star certified, EV-ready, solar powered and digitally enabled. Tree-lined streets, rail connectivity and a genuine sense of place are anchored by social infrastructure thoughtfully built in from the beginning. The homes may be compact, but the community is no compromise. It feels green, grounded and generous.
Ed.Square is a living example of the ambition laid out in State of the Housing System 2025, another valuable contribution to the conversation from the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council. One of the Council’s core goals is that “housing is safe and environmentally sustainable”. This means built with low-emissions materials, low-energy consuming, and meeting or exceeding 7-star NatHERS benchmarks. It also means expanding the ‘missing middle’ of medium-density homes with dual occupancies, townhouses, terraces and smaller apartment buildings.
These issues will be front-of-mind for the Albanese Government as it settles into a second term. With Minister Clare O’Neil now overseeing both Housing and Cities, there’s potential to better align productivity, affordability and sustainability. We’ve included a federal election and policy roundup in this issue of Green Building Voice – and as always, we look forward to working with all political parties over the next three years.
For years, we heard the objection: “No one wants green homes.” But now the data is clear. Australians want them. They’ll pay more for them. And they’re searching for them in growing numbers.
As Domain’s Chief of Research and Economics Dr Nicola Powell puts it, green homes are “a smart financial choice, particularly given rising energy prices and mounting cost-of-living pressures.”
We’ve never been in a better position to shift the conversation from why to how. Let’s make sure we deliver homes that are not just green to run – but smaller to build and lighter on the planet.