Mortgage underwriters should take energy consumption into account, says RMI

The mortgage underwriting process should take energy consumption data into account, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute.

With utility bills a major household expense—more than $2,500 for the typical American family—they should be included in home appraisals and mortgage underwriting, the Institute says. A study by the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and the University of North Carolina found that energy efficient homes had a rate of default 30% lower than standard homes, according to an RMI blog post.