AMLI Report: Most Renters Worry About Climate Change
The company’s annual survey also found that Millennial residents are the most willing to pay for green features.
Multifamily developer and owner AMLI Residential has released the findings of its third annual Sustainable Living Index, a survey of more than 3,500 residents of the company’s communities nationwide. The 2019 survey found that the vast majority of residents are concerned about climate change and a majority of renters would pay more to live in a community with sustainable features.
The survey, conducted in July, asked renters across nine markets in the U.S.—Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Seattle, Southern California and Southeast Florida—how their feelings about environmentalism and green initiatives affect the choices they make about where to live. Included in the findings were that 80 percent of respondents believe that living in a green apartment is beneficial to their health, with younger residents more likely to report a benefit than older residents.
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The survey found that more than 61 percent of residents would be willing to pay more to live in a sustainable community, with the Millenial generation the most inclined to pay more for green features, followed by Gen X, Gen Z and Baby Boomers. Financial savings as a result of living in a community with efficient features were reported by 71 percent of residents living in LEED-certified communities, while 55 percent of residents reported financial savings at non-LEED communities. More than 74 percent of the survey respondents said they recycle.
The results closely matched the findings from last year’s report, with the most notable change the increase in residents that are concerned about climate change—that percentage grew from 84 percent to 89 percent.