ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 55

Principal-agent theory suggests that agents will act ethically on behalf of clients but retain an
element of self-interest (Anglin & Arnott 1991). When applied to the context of this research it is
posited that if real estate agents perceive a benefit in promoting house energy efficient technologies, such as solar, they are likely to do so and will therefore script words and phrases within
advertising material to attract buyer interest.
This research examines the potential for success of the Australian government’s strategy of using
market forces to drive demand for energy efficient housing, thereby encouraging house-owners
to retrofit technologies to avoid price discounts. The objective is to gain a deeper understanding
of the extent of engagement that real estate agents have in the promotion of energy efficient
characteristics. As market facilitators real estate agents exhibit significant influence over the sales
process (Jauregui & Hite 2010) and therefore it is essential that their role be understood together
with the influence of demographic profiles upon solar technologies.
At any given point in time there is approximately 30,400 houses for sale in Melbourne (Mr David
Hall REIV email 22nd June 2015). Latest approvals for solar installations indicate that currently approximately 12.9% have been fitted with PV panels. Therefore it can reasonably concluded that
approximately 3922 of the houses on the market at any given point in time would be fitted with
solar technologies. If real estate agents are seeing such technologies as attractive to the market
then one should be able to observe a similar percentage of advertisements with words and phrases referring to these technologies. Thus this research is aimed at investigating the extent to which
real estate agents are acting in the manner sought by a market led policy.

Research Method
This investigation is informed by research that suggests education and wealth influence decisions
to adopt energy efficient and sustainable practices within domestic environments. With this in
mind, the aim of this research is to investigate the extent to which real estate agents include
words and phrases relating to existing solar technologies in advertisements. Such findings will
enable a better understanding of the extent buyers are seeking such technologies as part of their
home buying decision. This research adopts a quantitative approach by assembling a database to
explore the research questions. Data used in this study is real estate agent advertisements used
to promote residential properties between July 2008 and June 2013. In Victoria real estate agents
submit their advertisements together with sales information to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) at the time of sale. The REIV is Victoria’s industry peak body representing approximately
70% of all real estate agents (J Mitchell REIV email, 26th November 2014) with the remaining 30%
largely being non-residential agents. The statistical methods adopted best practice approaches
and ensure that internal validity is addressed (Silverman, 2008).
Keywords that either directly or make inferred reference to solar energy being available within
the advertisement were searched and included in the count. Keywords were identified through a
review of a random selection of 250 advertisements, noting any words that related to solar energy features (see Table 2). References to solar hot water services were not included. The rationale
for excluding solar hot water systems is that electric hot water systems in Melbourne account
approximately 43% of all installed systems (Origin Energy 2015) and the inclusion of these systems
here has the potential to corrupt the count, where the objective was to focus on the diffusion of
PV panels into the market. Evaluating textual composition of advertisements within geographical regions and comparing each to demographic profiles will demonstrate whether real estate
agents are recognising market demand for energy efficient technologies.

Measuring and predicting acceptance for photovoltaic technologies in Melbourne Victoria

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