Your electrically heated home was rated F or G; since 1 January 2026, a simple certificate moves it to E, without any works. You are selling, dividing an estate or declaring your assets: should you use the old rating or the new one, and does the discount for so-called passoires thermiques (energy sieves, the worst-rated homes) disappear with it? This article explains what the reform changes, what it does not change, and how I treat it in a market value report.
What changes on 1 January 2026
The ministerial order of 13 August 2025, published in the Journal officiel on 26 August 2025 (NOR: ATDL2519132A), changes a single parameter in the calculation of the DPE (diagnostic de performance énergétique, the French energy performance certificate): the coefficient converting final energy into primary energy for electricity, lowered from 2.3 to 1.9. The text is available on Légifrance.
This coefficient converts the energy consumed and paid for by the occupant (final energy) into the energy needed to produce and deliver it (primary energy). Gas and heating oil keep a coefficient of 1. Only electrically heated homes are therefore affected.
One example is enough to measure the effect. A home consuming 300 kWh/m²/year of electricity in final energy showed 690 kWh/m²/year in primary energy (300 × 2.3). It now shows 570 kWh/m²/year (300 × 1.9). This recalculation alone can gain one rating band, sometimes two.
According to the government estimates published in support of the order, about 850,000 homes leave bands F and G in this way, out of the 4.8 million counted in the main-residence stock on 1 January 2023.
DPEs issued before 1 January 2026 remain valid. A certificate showing the new rating can be downloaded without a new visit from the DPE-Audit observatory of ADEME, the French environment and energy agency; it has the same standing as the original certificate.
What the rating weighs in prices
To assess the effect of the reform, one must first recall what the market did with the rating before it. The figures below are those published by their authors at the date stated; they describe a past situation, not a rule.
- According to the review published by the Notaires de France at the end of 2025, 40 % of sales of existing homes concerned properties rated E, F or G.
- Still according to the Notaires de France (2024 data), a flat rated G sold on average 12 % below a flat rated D; for a house rated G, the gap reached 25 % in some regions.
- A SeLoger study of January 2025 put the average discount on homes rated F or G at about 15 %, or €452/m² less than a property rated D, with a negotiation margin of 5.9 % against 3 % for a property rated D.
Regional differences are marked. In tight markets, the discount observed on flats remained moderate, around 4 %. In rural or slack markets, it often exceeded 20 %.
Lending follows the same logic. According to a Meilleurtaux study of March 2026, several banks applied a premium of 0.10 to 0.30 of a point to the interest rate on properties rated F or G, and some disregarded future rents in the absence of a works programme.
An administrative reclassification, not an improvement of the property
This is the point the expert must keep in mind. The reform changes neither the actual consumption, nor the bills, nor the thermal comfort. It corrects a calculation parameter. The home that moves from G to E through the coefficient alone remains, physically, the same: same walls, same windows, same heat losses.
The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter, 6th edition, November 2025, Title IV, § 1.6) recalls that the DPE rests on a conventional calculation and that “the conventional calculation method does not make it possible to assess the actual consumption of buildings”. Three consequences follow for the valuation.
The discount linked to works does not disappear automatically. An informed buyer knows that the new rating does not reflect better insulation. The cost of the works remains an objective element of the negotiation; the orders of magnitude quoted by brokers in 2025 ranged from €200 to €450 per m² depending on the scale of the renovation.
The regulatory constraints, on the other hand, do change. Law no. 2021-1104 of 22 August 2021, known as the Climate and Resilience Law, progressively bans the letting of the worst-performing homes: band G since 1 January 2025, band F in 2028, band E in 2034. A property reclassified E therefore regains its letting potential until the next deadline, and the market knows it.
Access to credit improves. A property reclassified E no longer falls within the restrictive lending criteria applied to bands F and G.
How I treat the DPE in a report
The Charte defines market value as the amount of money for which a property would be exchanged, on the valuation date, between a willing buyer and a willing seller, after proper marketing, the parties having acted knowledgeably, prudently and without compulsion (Title III, § 1.1). The definition of market value in EVS 1 of the European Valuation Standards 2025 is identical in substance. The expert therefore reports what the market actually prices in, not what it should price in theory.
A few practical rules I apply:
- Identify the date of the DPE and the coefficient used. A certificate issued before 1 January 2026 with a coefficient of 2.3, a certificate issued after that date and a recalculated ADEME certificate do not say the same thing. The report makes this clear.
- Distinguish the rating from the actual performance. The rating governs rights (letting, rent reviews). The actual performance governs running costs and comfort. Both enter into the formation of the price, but differently.
- Adjust the discount to the facts observed. If properties reclassified E without works sell at the same price as properties “natively” E, the report records it. If buyers continue to negotiate on the basis of works, it records that too. The valuation rests on sales evidence, not on presumptions.
- Check the heating energy. The reform only concerns electricity. Two neighbouring, comparable properties, one heated by gas and the other by electricity, may now show different ratings for an identical actual performance.
EVS 6 of the EVS 2025 provides a useful framework: where no legal deadline affects the right to use or dispose of the property, the comparison method is sufficient; where a deadline exists, the valuer estimates the value of the property assumed renovated to the required band, then deducts the cost of the renovation. The administrative reclassification precisely shifts the deadline applicable to certain homes, which changes the reasoning to adopt.
Inheritance, divorce, tax audit
For inheritance tax, property is valued at its actual market value on the date of transfer (article 761 of the French General Tax Code). A death on 31 December 2025, with a property rated G, and a death on 2 January 2026, with the same property reclassified E, can lead to different values for a strictly identical home. The expert must be able to explain this gap, which stems from a regulatory change and not from the condition of the property.
In a divorce, if the valuation takes place in 2026 on a property whose DPE dates from 2024, the question arises whether to use the original rating or the recalculated certificate. The answer depends on the valuation date set by the judge or agreed between the parties, and on what the market took into account at that date.
For IFI (French wealth tax on property), gift or inheritance tax, the tax authority assesses the value on the date of the taxable event. It could challenge an “energy sieve” discount applied to a property whose certificate shows an E rating on 1 January of the tax year. A report that explains the reasoning is then the best protection.
In summary
The reform of 1 January 2026 changes the administrative reading of the energy performance of many electrically heated homes. It has concrete legal consequences: the right to let, lending, the works timetable. It changes nothing about the physical reality of the property. The valuation report must connect these two dimensions on the basis of observed transactions. The market will probably take several months to absorb the reform; until then, a rigorous choice of comparable sales remains the best guide.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the method and the content of the report. On the same theme, you can read Energy rating and property prices: the limits of the statistical analysis and Energy renovation: why the promised savings do not always materialise.
What next
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