The uneven price impact of energy efficiency ratings on housing segments and implications for public policy and private markets

In the literature, there is extensive, although in some cases inconclusive, evidence on the impact of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) on housing prices. Nonetheless, the question of whether such an impact is homogenous across residential segments remains highly unexplored. This paper addresses this latter issue utilizing multifamily listing data in metropolitan Barcelona. In doing so, first the entire sample is analyzed using a hedonic model. Second, the sample is split on the basis of a multivariate segmentation. Finally, separated hedonic models are specified again. The results suggest that in general, there is a modest impact of EPC ratings on listing prices, nonetheless it is not homogeneous across housing segments: (1) for the most modern apartments, with state-of-the-art features and active environmental comfort, energy ratings seem to play a null role in the formation of prices; (2) conversely, for the cheapest apartments, apartments boasting the most basic features, and apartments located in low-income areas, the “brown discount” is enormously significant, potentially depreciating the equity of those who have the least resources to carry out an energy retrofit. These results have implications for the assessment of the EPBD and its Spanish transposition, since a very well-intentioned environmental policy could have potentially harmful social repercussions in the absence of corrective measures.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

La evolución del impacto de la eficiencia energética en los precios residenciales: un análisis para la Barcelona Metropolitana

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has it made mandatory to include an energy performance certificate (EPC) on real estate advertisements so as to promote efficient properties. Previous research has found a positive correlation between residential prices and EPC’s energy ranks; nonetheless, the analysis of the evolution of such impact for the same market is still pending. This paper tries to shed light on this issue by analyzing the evolution of prices of the second largest urban agglomeration in Spain. In doing so, a pooled hedonic model is carried out departing from selling listing prices of apartments and a set of locative control variables. Results suggest that in a short period the energy premium for multifamily houses has positively evolved. As a result, a sharped market differentiation arises between inefficient and energy saving dwellings. Such findings have significant implications for the construction and real estate industry, since higher selling prices may compensate for higher building costs coming from energy efficient technologies.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

El precio marginal de la Eficiencia Energética de la vivienda en la Barcelona Metropolitana: problemas de sesgo de selección de muestras

Propósito: La eficiencia energética de la vivienda se ha convertido en un problema desde la obligatoriedad impuesta por la EPBD de exhibir un certificado de eficiencia energético (EPC) al realizar transacciones de bienes raíces. Numerosos estudios se han centrado en precios marginales de la eficiencia energética utilizando modelos de precios hedónicos. Sin embargo, en algunos mercados como el español, una importante proporción de propiedades en alquiler o venta no exhiben los EPC en el anuncio inmobiliario. Al no considerar este tema, el impacto de las EPC en los precios de la vivienda puede resultar sesgado. En otras palabras, estos casos sin etiquetas EPC no pueden ser considerados. Este desconocimiento del sesgo de la selección de la muestra puede reducir la precisión de los resultados, o incluso dar una estimación adversa. En este caso, el objetivo de este trabajo es explorar la presencia del sesgo en la selección de la muestra y corregirlo, para mejorar los siguientes estudios.MetodologíaSe utilizan, como principal fuente de información, los listados de propiedades inmobiliarias de Habitaclia, empresa líder en Internet en Cataluña y se aplica el modelo de Heckman para identificar la probabilidad de sesgo de la selección en la Barcelona Metropolitana, mediante el método de dos pasos, que incluye el modelo de Selección y el modelo de Precios Hedónicos. Después de probar la robustez y cuantificar el sesgo de las propiedades no etiquetadas con EPC, se revisará eficiencia energética Premium y se comparará con los resultados de la estimación tradicional de OLS.ConclusiónEn la Barcelona Metropolitana, los resultados de la estimación sugieren que la selección de la muestra es efectiva y que si importa la eficiencia energética Premium. Esta prima aumenta del 9.6% al 12.6% en el caso de viviendas que mejoran su ranquing energético desde G a A, o desde 0,9% a 2%, con cada aumento de clasificación, después de corregir el sesgo de selección de muestra. Al mismo tiempo, encontramos el efecto que el efecto del sesgo de selección de la muestra es más fuerte en las propiedades son más grandes con una superficie media-alta.Propòsit: L'eficiència energètica de l'habitatge s'ha convertit en un problema des de la obligatorietat imposada per la EPBD d'exhibir un certificat d'eficiència energètica (EPC) en realitzar transaccions de béns arrels. Nombrosos estudis s'han centrat en preus marginals de l'eficiència energètica utilitzant models de preus hedònics. No obstant això, en alguns mercats com l'espanyol, una important proporció de propietats en lloguer o venda no exhibeixen els EPC en l'anunci immobiliari. En no considerar aquest tema, l'impacte de les EPC en els preus de l'habitatge pot resultar esbiaixat. En altres paraules, aquests casos sense etiquetes EPC no poden ser considerats. Aquest desconeixement del biaix de la selecció de la mostra pot reduir la precisió dels resultats, o fins i tot donar una estimació adversa. En aquest cas, l'objectiu d'aquest treball és explorar la presència del biaix en la selecció de la mostra i corregir-ho, per millorar els següents estudis.MetodologiaS'utilitzen, com a principal font d'informació, els llistats de propietats immobiliàries de Habitaclia, empresa líder a Internet a Catalunya i s'aplica el model de Heckman per identificar la probabilitat de biaix de la selecció a la Barcelona Metropolitana, mitjançant el mètode de dos passos , que inclou el model de selecció i el model de Preus Hedònics. Després de provar la robustesa i quantificar el biaix de les propietats no etiquetades amb EPC, es revisarà eficiència energètica Premium i es compararà amb els resultats de l'estimació tradicional de OLS.ConclusióA la Barcelona Metropolitana, els resultats de l'estimació suggereixen que la selecció de la mostra és efectiva i que si importa l'eficiència energètica Premium. Aquesta prima augmenta del 9.6% al 12.6% en el cas d'habitatges que milloren la seva rànquing energètic des G a A, o des 0,9% a 2%, amb cada augment de classificació, després de corregir el biaix de selecció de mostra. Alhora, trobem l'efecte que l'efecte del biaix de selecció de la mostra és més fort en les propietats són més grans amb una superfície mitjana-alta.Purpose: Housing energy-efficiency has become a hot issue in the residential sector along with the mandatory requirement by EPBD to exhibit an energy performance certificates (EPC) when transacting real estate. Numerous studies have focused on energy-efficient marginal price using hedonic price models. Nevertheless, in some markets such as the Spanish one a vital proportion of properties to be let or sold do not exhibit the EPCs in the real estate advertisement. By not considering this issue the impact of EPCs on housing prices may result biased. In other words, those cases without EPC labels that are not considered, when analyzing impacts of energy label on housing prices, do actually matter to them. This ignorance of sample selection bias may reduce the accuracy of results, or even give an adverse estimation. In this case, we aim to explore the presence of sample selection bias and correcting these biases for better the following studies.MethodologyA collected selling listing prices from Habitaclia, one of the leading web-based real estate listings in Catalonia is the main source of information and Heckman model is used to identify the likelihood of selection bias in metropolitan Barcelona by the two-step method, including a Selection model and a Hedonic Price model. After tested robustness and quantized the bias from those non-EPC-labeled properties, an energy-efficient premium will be revised and compared with the traditional OLS estimate results.ConclusionThe estimation results suggest that the sample selection indeed exist and does matter to energy-efficient premium in Barcelona Metropolitan. This premium increases from 9.6% to 12.6% when houses improve energy ranking from G to A, or from 0.9% to 2% with every ranking increasing after correcting those sample selection bias. At the same time, we found that the effect of sample selection bias is stronger where properties are higher with medium-high floor area size.Peer Reviewe

Tell me where you went, I may tell who you infected

[No abstract available]Funding text 1: Internationalization’ and received national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education) under the Epidemiology Research Unit - Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (EPIUnit) (UIDB/04750/2020) and the Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR) (LA/P/0064/2020). Ana Isabel Ribeiro was supported by National Funds through the FCT, under the ‘Stimulus of Scientific Employment – Individual Support’ program, within contract CEECIND/02386/2018.; Funding text 2: This study was funded by the ERDF through the Operational Program ‘Competitiveness an

Why does it take so long? The reasons behind tuberculosis treatment delay in Portugal

Introduction Delayed diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis contributes to the spread of the disease. In this study, we aimed to determine the patient and healthcare system delay among tuberculosis patients in Portugal and identify associated factors at individual and contextual level. Methods We analysed all TB cases notified in Portugal between 2010 and 2014 using data from the national surveillance system. Patient and healthcare system delay were computed, log-transformed, and used as outcomes. Adjusted generalized linear models were fitted to identify sociodemographic, contextual and clinical determinants. Results The study included 6838 patients. The median of patient and healthcare system were 33 and 17 days, respectively. Adjusted regression models revealed that higher patient delay occurred in foreign patients (exponentiated beta: 1.177, 95%CI 1.091–1.270) and those addicted to alcohol (1.169, 1.072–1.276) and drugs (1.153, 1.027–1.295). Higher healthcare system delay was observed among patients with extra-pulmonary TB (2.067, 1.885–2.268) and pulmonary comorbidities – lung cancer (2.391, 1.656–3.452), sarcoidosis (3.316, 1.370–8.022) and COPD (1.295, 1.059–1.584) – and in patients residing further from a healthcare service (1.040, 1.018–1.062). Conclusion We found that various individual and contextual factors affect the time delay in tuberculosis treatment. Our findings indicate that some strategies, such as facilitating the access to healthcare services among foreign patients and patients with addictions and increasing the awareness towards TB among healthcare professionals, may result in better TB control.This study was funded by FEDER through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization and national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) under the EPIUnit – Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref. UID/DTP/04750/2013)

Tuberculosis and gender - Factors influencing the risk of tuberculosis among men and women by age group

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Intra-urban variation in tuberculosis and community socioeconomic deprivation in Lisbon metropolitan area: a Bayesian approach

Background: Multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a recognized threat to global efforts to TB control and remains a priority of the National Tuberculosis Programs. Additionally, social determinants and socioeconomic deprivation have since long been associated with worse health and perceived as important risk factors for TB. This study aimed to analyze the spatial distribution of non-MDR-TB and MDR-TB across parishes of the Lisbon metropolitan area of Portugal and to estimate the association between non-MDR-TB and MDR-TB and socioeconomic deprivation. Methods: In this study, we used hierarchical Bayesian spatial models to analyze the spatial distribution of notification of non-MDR-TB and MDR-TB cases for the period from 2000 to 2016 across 127 parishes of the seven municipalities of the Lisbon metropolitan area (Almada, Amadora, Lisboa, Loures, Odivelas, Oeiras, Sintra), using the Portuguese TB Surveillance System (SVIG-TB). In order to characterise the populations, we used the European Deprivation Index for Portugal (EDI-PT) as an indicator of poverty and estimated the association between non-MDR-TB and MDR-TB and socioeconomic deprivation. Results: The notification rates per 10,000 population of non-MDR TB ranged from 18.95 to 217.49 notifications and that of MDR TB ranged from 0.83 to 3.70. We identified 54 high-risk areas for non-MDR-TB and 13 high-risk areas for MDR-TB. Parishes in the third [relative risk (RR) = 1.281, 95% credible interval (CrI): 1.021–1.606], fourth (RR = 1.786, 95% CrI: 1.420–2.241) and fifth (RR = 1.935, 95% CrI: 1.536–2.438) quintile of socioeconomic deprivation presented higher non-MDR-TB notifications rates. Parishes in the fourth (RR = 2.246, 95% CrI: 1.374–3.684) and fifth (RR = 1.828, 95% CrI: 1.049–3.155) quintile of socioeconomic deprivation also presented higher MDR-TB notifications rates. Conclusions: We demonstrated significant heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of both non-MDR-TB and MDR-TB at the parish level and we found that socioeconomically disadvantaged parishes are disproportionally affected by both non-MDR-TB and MDR-TB. Our findings suggest that the emergence of MDR-TB and transmission are specific from each location and often different from the non-MDR-TB settings. We identified priority areas for intervention for a more efficient plan of control and prevention of non-MDR-TB and MDR-TB. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2022, The Author(s).This work has been funded by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)—project UIDB/50026/2020, UIDP/50026/2020 and PTDC/SAU-PUB/29521/2017. This study was also supported by FEDER through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization and national funding through the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) under the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia—Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (UIDB/04750/2020). Ana Isabel Ribeiro was supported by National Funds through FCT, under the programme of ‘Stimulus of Scientific Employment—Individual Support’ within the contract CEECIND/02386/2018

EPC Green Premium in Two Different European Climate Zones: A Comparative Study between Barcelona and Turin

Energy performance certificates (EPCs) are important tools aimed at improving buildings’ energy performance. They play a central role in the context of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which asks member states (MS) to take the necessary measures to establish a complete certification system. In this study, an application of the hedonic price method (HPM) assessing the effect of energy labels derived from the EPC on real estate market value is presented. The estimation methodology was applied to two European cities characterized by different climate conditions. The analysis was based on two datasets of listing prices referring to multi-family residential markets in Turin (Italy) and Barcelona (Spain). Four models for each dataset were applied to capture the marginal price of green attributes, but also to control for the spatial autocorrelation among values. The findings showed how the EPC has been applied in the two countries and how it has influenced the real estate market. Turin’s buyers pay more attention to the EPC label, while in Barcelona, they value much more single characteristics, such as air conditioning and a swimming pool, considered popular attributes among contemporary buildings in this climate zone. From the results, it is possible to deduce that the implementation of the EPC schemes is still irregular in EU countries and must be strengthened through a standardized rating model

Tuberculosis inequalities and socio-economic deprivation in Portugal

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the geographical distribution of tuberculosis (TB) in Portugal and estimate the association between TB and socio-economic deprivation. METHODS: An ecological study at the municipality level using TB notifications for 2010–2014 was conducted. Spatial Bayesian models were used to calculate smoothed standardised notification rates, identify high- and low-risk areas and estimate the association between TB notification and the European Deprivation Index (EDI) for Portugal and its component variables. RESULTS: Standardised notification rates ranged from 4.41 to 76.44 notifications per 100 000 population. Forty-one high-risk and 156 low-risk municipalities were identified. There was no statistically significant association between TB notification rate and the EDI, but some of its variables, such as the proportion of manual workers and the percentage unemployed, were significantly and directly associated with TB notification, whereas the variable ‘proportion of residents with low education level' showed an inverse relationship. CONCLUSION: Wide inequalities in TB notification rates were observed, and some areas continued to exhibit high TB notification rates. We found significant associations between TB and some socio-economic factors of the EDI.This work was supported by contributions from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the European Economic Area Grants, under the Public Health Initiatives Programme (PT 06, grant number 138DT1)

How Relevant is Energy Efficiency in The Marketing of Homes? Evidence from Real Estate Agents in Spain

In order to foster informed transactions, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has made it mandatory to get an Energy Performance Certificate in the marketing of the Communitarian Real Estate. Due to energy savings and environmental preservation, it is expected that efficient buildings do receive an increased willingness to pay. The evidence coming from a number of statistical studies has confirmed the existence of such premium. Nevertheless, such finding is contradictory in relation to the conclusions of opinion-based studies. This paper seeks to study whether energy efficiency drives market price and the marketing of homes in Spain. In doing so, a survey applied to realtors across the country has been implemented. The results are in line with other opinion-based studies pointing out that energy performance has a negligible impact on the marketing of homes. Furthermore, real estate agents suggest that companion policies in the sphere of subsidies and fiscal exceptions are needed in order to bring energy efficiency to the first line of elicitation attributes in the residential market.This work is funded by EnerValor project grant BIA 2015-63606-R (MINECO/FEDER