D sits in the middle of the A to G scale and is the most common band among homes sold in England and Wales, so there is no reason to treat it as a poor rating. This site benchmarks every other band against D: the neighbouring bands C and E differ from it in price like for like by only a few percent, and the gap downwards is bigger than the one upwards. For an owner the practical takeaway is simple. Keeping a home in D is safe, you can let it, but slipping into E costs more than moving up to C gains.
Contents
↓ Band D by property type↓ Band D by region
Band D in the sales figures
From January 2015 to September 2026, 3,645,708 of the 9,109,807 sales with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) were band D, exactly 40.0% (HM Land Registry Price Paid data, EPC register as at November 2026). Its median is £2,857 per m². On its own that figure tells you little about your home: a square metre in a flat and in a detached house, in the north and in London, costs very different amounts. Read the tables by property type and region on this page like this: find your row and compare D with the other bands within it, and do not compare different rows with each other. The regions with the extreme prices are shown on the London and North East pages.
Gas: what the certificate says and what the meter shows
For a gas-heated band D home, the certificate quotes a median of 19,726 kWh a year. That is primary energy including lighting, so an overestimate. According to DESNZ meter data for 2024, in the postcodes where such homes predominate, about 57% of that figure was actually used. There are no pound sums in the data and you cannot get the “monthly cost” out of the certificate, but the order of magnitude is clear: actual gas use for a band D home in these postcodes is little more than half the calculated figure. For a buyer, that is a reason to look at the seller’s past bills before the line in the certificate.
D → C: what it adds when you sell
Like for like on floor area, property type, build period and year of sale, a band C home sells for 1.0% more than a band D home (95% range +0.7% to +1.3%), while a band E home sells for 2.8% less. A price gain of around one percent will pay for the work only if that work is cheap, and there are no work costs in the data. What matters more: if your home sits at the bottom of band D, an improvement protects it from dropping into E, where the loss is almost three times bigger. The neighbouring bands are covered on the band C and band E pages.
The decision is easiest to take step by step:
- Check the date of the certificate. The band is fixed at inspection, and at the point of sale a quarter of certificates are older than 4 years: since then the home may have changed, for example after a boiler replacement or insulation.
- Compare your home with its neighbours on its postcode sector page on the site: if D predominates around you, your home's band does not stand out.
- Get prices for the work from contractors and set them against the gain of roughly 1% on the home's price.
- Weigh the risk of falling into E: for letting it is the minimum threshold, for selling minus 2.8% against D.
Common questions
Can I sell a house with EPC D?
Yes. It is the most common band among sales with a certificate: 40% since 2015.
Can I rent out a property with EPC D?
Yes. The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) requires band E or above, and D meets it. Check the letting rules against the GOV.UK guidance; the site's assessment does not replace it.
The bottom line for a band D owner
Band D is the most common band: 40% of sales with a certificate in England and Wales since 2015, median £2,857 per m². Moving up to C adds about 1.0% to the price like for like; falling into E takes away 2.8%. On gas, meters in the postcodes with band D homes show about 57% of the certificate's calculation. You can let a band D home and sell it too, and improving it makes sense first of all at the bottom edge of the band. How D looks against the whole scale is shown in the comparison of bands A to G.