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Starting in late April 2027, people selling their homes in Eugene will need to hire an assessor to evaluate their home and disclose the “energy score” with real estate listings. The city still needs to hash out some details, including a financial assistance program for low-income sellers.
The city of Eugene will require people selling their homes to include in real estate listings an assessment of the property’s energy performance.
A home energy score is a tool developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. It assesses a dwelling’s physical and mechanical features — like the foundation, insulation, windows, and heating and cooling systems — to gauge its expected energy use on a scale of 1 to 10.
Eugene city councilors on Wednesday, Oct. 28, voted 6-1 to mandate local home sellers to have their home assessed and list the score. Councilor Mike Clark was the lone ‘no’ vote. Councilor Lyndsie Leech was absent.
Four other Oregon cities have similar requirements: Portland, Hillsboro, Milwaukie and Bend.
Eugene councilors had voted 5-3 in March to draft an energy score policy after community outreach and research. A public hearing on the proposal in September drew 21 speakers, nearly all of whom spoke in favor of the requirement.
The policy is intended to better inform homebuyers before they purchase a dwelling, and to encourage energy-efficient home improvements that lower utility bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“It would lead homes to slowly become more energy-efficient over time,” city Climate Policy Analyst Danielle Klinkenbiel told the council.
The policy will take effect April 28, 2027. Here’s how it will work:
Homeowners will need to hire a certified assessor to complete the evaluation before listing their home for sale. City staff expect the assessment to cost between $150 to $250 and take about an hour. The city will likely contract national nonprofit Earth Advantage to train 10 to 15 more assessors because there are currently only four serving the Eugene area.
The homeowner would then include the energy score and report in all real estate listings, provide copies to real estate agents and make the information available to prospective buyers viewing a home in-person.
The scores expire eight years after the assessment; or when home improvements are completed that impact a dwelling’s energy consumption; or if there is a change to square footage — whichever comes first.
In previous discussions over the proposal, some councilors voiced concerns about tacking on a new cost to the already costly process of listing a home. On Thursday, Councilor Alan Zelenka argued those concerns are overblown.
“Other cities have had this program for years, and what we’ve learned from that is that it’s very effective, very efficient, with little to no impact on the sell-by process or on price,” he said. “We take solace in the fact that none of that actually happens. The worst fears that people had were never realized.”
Clark wasn’t convinced.
“I have spoken with dozens and dozens of Realtors that can’t believe we would possibly consider doing this at a time like this, when housing is already as expensive as this,” he said. “For us to add a mandate that increases the cost of housing isn’t a benefit to the buyer.”
There are seven exemptions to the requirement, including distressed sales — transactions in which the seller is in financial trouble, like a trustee’s sale, a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or a short sale — homes that are incompatible with the scoring system or dwellings that are being used for commercial purposes.
The city still needs to hash out the administrative rules of the policy, including enforcement penalties and the establishment of a financial assistance program for low-income sellers.
Sustainability Manager Ian Penn said the assistance program will likely cover the cost of the energy assessment for homesellers who earn 80% of the area median income — about $55,000 for one person or $78,700 for a four person-household.
The city plans to cover those low-income assessment costs, Klinkenbiel said.
“Our research shows that we should budget about $5,000 a year to cover those assessments for low income scores,” Klinkenbiel said.
The to-be-determined nature of some of those details concerned a couple of councilors. After Councilor Randy Groves said he doesn’t like “voting on blank checks,” city staff pointed to a clause in the ordinance that says the financial assistance program would operate “to the extent that funds are available.”
There were also council questions about who will enforce the program and how much it will cost. Penn said the city’s sustainability team will take on the program’s administration, and that he does not anticipate needing to hire additional staff for the work.
“It will be done with the existing program, our existing resources, and our existing staff bandwidth,” Penn said.
City Manager Jenny Haruyama said councilors could reconsider funding allocations during the budget process.
Climate advocates celebrated the council’s decision in a Thursday news release. Bethany Cotton, the conservation director with Cascadia Wildlands, called it an “important step forward” to meeting the city’s climate goal of cutting community emissions in half by 2030. Communitywide emissions have decreased 11% between 2010 and 2025.
“We applaud the City Council for taking this common sense step,” Cotton wrote in the release.
