We all know Austin is a great place to live. We love it here, so we’re willing to pay a premium to buy a home, as shown in the fact that we have the second-highest median home sales price in Texas.

We also support energy efficiency and protecting our environment. It’s a difficult balance, keeping homeownership affordable while conserving energy and the environment.

To help make Austin the greenest city in the country, some city leaders were considering making energy efficiency upgrades for existing single-family homes mandatory before they could be sold. Not only was this an unprecedented threat to private-property rights, it would’ve made homeownership in Austin even more expensive. Prohibitively so for many low- and fixed-income Austinites.

Fortunately, a city task force and the Austin City Council concluded that consumer incentives and education are the best ways to achieve greater energy efficiency while keeping Austin homes affordable. Keep Austin Affordable and the Austin Board of REALTORS® have pledged to be an ongoing part of this solution.