[Portland, OR May 2024 —Earth Advantage
®, Inc. and The Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, Inc., doing business as NorthstarMLS® announced today a partnership to deliver building performance data from the Green Building Registry
® (GBR) to NorthstarMLS users.
Historically, important information on a home such as energy ratings, third-party building certifications and solar electricity generation has not made it into for-sale or rental listings. Thousands of dollars of value per home could be lost because trustworthy data was unavailable for listing agents, appraisers and potential buyers to review at the time of sale. This lack of data has prevented appraisers and lending institutions from creating thorough valuations and limited buyers’ abilities to make fully informed purchasing decision.
Since 2017, Earth Advantage’s self-funded, Green Building Registry has provided home performance data to the public and real estate multiple listing services. GBR partners directly with programs to provide verified data directly from sources such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Home Energy Score program partners, LEED
® for Homes, ENERGY STAR
®, HERS
® Index Scores, and other national and regional third-party verification programs.
NorthstarMLS has recognized the value this information provides not only in a listing but in providing a more holistic view of the buildings and homes in Minnesota, Western Wisconsin and North Dakota. The green certification and energy rating data available from GBR will be integrated into NorthstarMLS’ listing management system to enable the auto-population of this information into listings. Auto-population of this data helps ensure a consistent and accurate representation of this information on listings.
“Consumer demand for green building performance data is growing rapidly,” said NorthstarMLS CEO Tim Dain. “MLS listings that include meaningful sustainability and energy savings data help drive the decision-making process for this expanding pool of environmentally conscious buyers and sellers.”
David Heslam, executive director at Earth Advantage, stated, ”It’s fantastic to see NorthstarMLS join a growing group of MLS providers around the country in investing in their systems to create easy access to home performance data. This green information is more important than ever and now it will be readily available to NorthstarMLS’s subscribers.”
About NorthstarMLS
The Regional MLS of Minnesota, Inc. doing business as NorthstarMLS, provides participating real estate brokers and agents with fast and reliable access to the information and resources that make the real estate market function efficiently and effectively for both buyers and sellers. It serves three shareholder and nine client REALTOR Associations, supporting more than 22,600 REALTORS across Minnesota, Western Wisconsin and North Dakota, with 96.3% of all Minnesota REALTORS sharing listing information and connecting buyers and sellers through the platform. Learn more at
www.northstarmls.com.
About the Green Building Registry
The Green Building Registry (GBR) is the largest single source of building performance data in the United States. GBR contains over three million records containing data on single-family, multifamily, and commercial buildings. Our GBR-API allows any MLS, lender, or other data provider to connect directly to the information contained in the registry. Visitthe GBR website,
us.greenbuildingregistry.com for a free property search.
GBR is a wholly owned and self-funded initiative of Earth Advantage, a nonprofit organization helping to advance a more informed and humane housing market that recognizes the elements of homes that create climate risk and values the characteristics of homes that provide climate solutions. Earth Advantage partners with entities across the country to develop tangible, systemic solutions for climate-friendly housing. For more information visit www.earthadvantage.org.
If you would like more information about this topic, please call Meg Garabrant at 503.310.9138 x62, or email meg@greenbuildingregistry.com.
