Net-zero requirements to drive surge in new house prices 

The regulations are designed to help the UK align with its environmental goals to become carbon neutral by 2050.

They set new standards for ventilation, energy efficiency and heating – as well as obligating new residential buildings to be equipped with charging points for electric vehicles.

The rules apply to extensions and loft conversions as well as new home builds. The biggest changes relate to heating and insulation. 

They mark the most significant change to building regulations in years, and industry experts predict surging prices to be the outcome, during a period when high labour costs and a shortage of materials are driving up bills.

Materials prices are already up 25% in the last two years, according to figures from the Construction Products Association.

Brian Berry, chief executive of trade group the Federation of Master Builders, said new materials, testing methods, products and systems will need to be installed, as a result of the new measures.

“All this comes at an increased cost during a time when prices are already sky high. Inevitably, consumers will have to pay more,” he commented.

An extra £3,000 could be added to the price of an average home extension, according to Jonathan Rolande of the National Association of Property Buyers.

But in the longer-term, prices will come down, according to John Kelly, construction lawyer at Freeths.

“As the marketplace adapts to the new requirements, and the technologies that support them, the scaling up of these technologies will eventually bring costs down, but in the short term, we will all have to pay the price of the necessary transition,” Kelly said.