Rental premiums vs energy savings

The current housing stock consumes 27 percent of the total global energy, there is still much to gain within the stage of preserving the existing building stock (Bonde & Song, 2015). Furthermore, the context of the Dutch housing market provides many opportunities for commercial investors due to extra freedom obtained by regulatory changes (New Housing Act). However, there is still a lack of information about the variables and standardized metrics for the assessment of the return of sustainability investments for this further preservation. This is further emphasised by Francesco and Levy (2008) who remarked that valuing responsible investments is a challenge for the future (de Francesco & Levy, 2008). This research continues where previous research has stopped and makes an attempt to identify the full spectrum of sustainability criteria for both economic, environmental and social sustainability, from the existing literature and in relation to the Dutch housing market, and examines their influence on the direct return on investments to support responsible property investments. Subsequent, the following research objective can be formulated: provide insight in different sustainability criteria and their influence on the direct return of investment in the context of multiple family dwellings in the Dutch housing market, to further improve the effectiveness and alignment of the division of benefits and transparency for both investors and tenants in the decision-making process.