Picking Up the PACE: Loans for Residential Climate-Proofing

Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans are a new class of financial contract, whereby homeowners borrow to fund green residential projects and repay the loan via their local property tax payments. We assess equity-efficiency trade-offs of PACE using loan-level data from Florida merged to property transaction, tax, and permitting records. Consistent with the program's objectives, borrowers are more likely to obtain permits related to disaster-proofing homes, and loan takeup is concentrated in areas with higher ex ante and ex post natural hazard risk. Such investments are capitalized into home values, but expansions of the property tax base are partially offset by an uptick in tax delinquency rates among borrowers. Although PACE loans are super senior to other debt, lenders expand their provision of mortgage credit in PACE-enabled counties. Enabling PACE loans increases the fiscal income of participating local governments while closing the investment gap in projects which improve the climate resiliency of the housing stock.