A new study, “Home Energy Efficiency and Mortgage Risks,” released on March 19, 2013, found that mortgage default risks are on average 32% lower in ENERGY STAR homes. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Community Capital and the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) reports that among efficient homes, the more efficient the house, the lower the default risk. The results are statistically significant at a 99.9% confidence level and consistent across different model specifications and types of subsamples. The significant findings of this study have implications for mortgage underwriting policy.