Energy Efficiency in Practice: KPIs, Innovation and Building Decarbonisation in Europe with Onesto #16

In this episode of Mortgages Covered, Richard Kemmish, EMF-ECBC & ISMMA Consultant, is joined by Joris Piete of Onesto, to discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in improving the energy performance of less energy-efficient homes.

This Episode of Mortgages Covered explores:

• Onesto’s 130-year commitment to supporting affordable home ownership through social mortgage lending.
• The challenges faced by lower-income households when purchasing and renovating homes.
• A one-stop-shop approach that combines mortgage financing with free energy and renovation advice.
• How energy renovations can improve EPC ratings while delivering significant energy and cost savings.
• The use of digital and AI-driven tools to support faster, more accurate renovation planning and cost estimation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So much of the energy efficient mortgage uh conversation is concentrated at the top end, the top 15%, the A-rated um energy performance buildings, that kind of thing. But what about the other end? There's much bigger gains to be made with the lower income, the lower energy efficient mortgages. Jonis Pieter of Inesto has been looking at that problem and trying to help people in those kind of houses to improve their energy efficiency. Okay, Joseph, could you please just explain to explain to us what Onesto is, what it does, what problem it's trying to solve?

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yes, of course, uh Richard. Um so Onesto is in basics a social mortgage lender. Um we are uh developed since um 19. Oh sorry, we are uh born, let's say, in 1894. So we do what we do every day since uh then, and we have over 130 years of experience in trying to provide affordable housing for people, and it all started um for the mining workers which came to the province of Limburg in Belgium uh to work in the mines, obviously, and they were in search for affordable houses. So our mission stayed the same for the last 130 years. Uh, for us, it's all about affordable housing to provide as much as affordable housing for everyone, uh let's say. And today we provide social mortgages uh to people who cannot apply for a loan with regular banks and which are not eligible for government loans, for example. So they fall in between, and we try to be in that gap. And of course, in essence, people with limited budgets buy houses with high renovation needs. We finance not only the purchase, but we also connect them immediately with the one-stop shops, the providers of the free energy advice, the renovation advice, who guide them through arts the whole uh renovation journey, actually.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I think that's very significant. You hear a lot in this area about the the top EPCs, the really high energy efficient loans, and all the focus on the top 15%. And uh we forget that actually the biggest environment improvements are at the other end of the scale.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah, indeed. Indeed. That's what we are thinking also. Um try to first focus on that uh 20 to 30 percent worse EPC uh label uh houses. And uh we uh from our former uh projects we learned that we can uh have a success score of about 45 to 60 percent EPC decrease. So that means a lot of saving uh in energy but also in money for the clients who buy these houses, and they have to be able to live in it uh in a sustainable way. Um they uh when we check for the loan eligibility, we not only look at the the current situation of the customer, but we also try to uh look at the future situation of the of the people. When they do not renovate it immediately in a qualitative level, they cannot pay for their energy bills when the next energy crisis kicks in, like we have uh had two uh in the past, and we are currently living in one. Uh, and uh when they not pay for their energy bills anymore, yeah. The next phase is that they cannot pay for their mortgage anymore. And then not only the client uh who has to sell his house, but the bank uh has a stranded asset in its portfolio, so it's important for both parties.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

With the way energy prices are at the moment, obviously, is a huge stimulus for that. But what are the biggest barriers then? Is it trusting the upgrades, is it getting the finance, is it overcoming the inertia?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yeah, the the biggest challenge for our clients is to find a proper uh financial solution. Uh first they go to the regular banks and they get five NOS in a row, and then they come to us, and then uh there is only a short period in time to make a clear estimation of the renovation costs coming together with the purchase of this type of hose. So we try to uh make an accurate uh cost estimation by using AI tools. We are testing a lot with uh digital renovation tools who provide us in less than five minutes of a clear cost estimation. Because when approving for the loan, we take this into account and we try to look at uh the total budget of the project. Is it fitting the budget available within the client's budget? Does is it is it not fitting? Uh is the the the budget needed for renovation uh um outs uh um is is a lot higher than um um than the budget of the client is actually. We always uh we also try um we also say no uh to the purchase financing, of course. I think that's the responsibility of the lender to prevent people falling into energy poverty by not financing a purchase when we see the budget is lagging.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

It sounds like an incredibly valuable thing that you're doing, both for the the borrower and for the environmental standards. Thank you so much. Good luck with it, and thank you for joining us today.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Thank you, Richard.