People buying homes that are more energy efficient should be given cheaper mortgage rates.

New research claims current estimates of energy costs could be inaccurate by as much as £45,000 for a 25-year mortgage for an efficient home.

The difference found in a Victorian property was around £11,500.

It could be higher for older buildings and those off the gas grid, the report added.

It stated mortgage lenders could “significantly improve” their calculations if they use current energy data such as the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating for a property.

Currently, housing-related energy costs account for 7.2% of a household’s weekly expenditure in the UK, according to the report launched by UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) and the University College London’s Energy Institute.

Richard Griffiths, Senior Policy Advisor at UK-GBC, Co-Author said: “Government wants lenders to be more responsible yet this work shows that they are currently failing to account for the likely energy costs faced by would-be borrowers. As a result lenders are potentially lending more money than buyers of inefficient properties can truly afford and vice-versa for efficient properties.

“If banks took some quite straightforward steps to address this – by including data on properties’ energy efficiency and making more accurate estimates of their likely energy bills – they would reduce the risks associated with their lending while helping to create the conditions that would see energy efficient properties rise in value compared to their inefficient counterparts.”