Home performance data on 92 million homes now available to every buyer, seller, homeowner, appraiser and agent.
EnergyStar labels have become so ubiquitous that nearly every consumer knows to check for one before they buy an appliance or a new heat pump. That type of simplified guidance is now available for entire homes thanks to Pearl, a ratings and standards company that quantifies home performance.
“We developed the Pearl Home Performance Registry and the Pearl SCORE program to generate a way to measure how a home performs,” says Robin LeBaron, president and co-founder of Pearl. “We have rich data sources – both public and private – that pull together information on 92 million single-family homes in the U.S.”
Pearl’s mission at a higher level is to drive energy transformation, which they believe can be accomplished more easily when homeowners and buyers understand the importance of home performance.
Homebuyers of every generation say that they focus more on long-term value and operating costs instead of upfront costs when considering a home purchase, according to Green Builder Media’s COGNITION Smart Data. An important element of costs and ongoing value is how well a home manages energy, maintains comfort, protects health and withstands stress.
“The Pearl SCORE is a historic feat – pulling together all the information from hundreds of data points removes a blind spot for buyers,” says N. Carol Kibbee, a Realtor at Coldwell Banker Realty and director of the Well-Dwelling Experts Network in Cincinnati. “Buyers want to know how a home will perform, but until now they could only ask the sellers. Plus, the Pearl SCORE goes way beyond energy efficiency to cover indoor air quality and other important performance measurements.”
High Performance Metrics
The first national database to rate every single-family home in America will also expand to townhouses that control their own heating and cooling systems in another year or so, according to LeBaron. Each home in the current database has a Pearl SCORE from 1 to 1,000 based on five pillars of home performance: safety, comfort, operations, resilience and energy (SCORE).
“A couple of decades ago, home performance wasn’t a thing,” LeBaron says. “Now technology has matured and more homes have solar, heat pumps and induction stoves because consumers are ready for them. The pandemic and widespread smoke from wildfires made people more aware of indoor air quality. Today more homebuyers are concerned about sustainability, resilience and home performance.”
A perfect Pearl SCORE of 1,000 indicates a home that’s equipped to reduce problems in the home, LeBaron says. Most of America’s housing stock scores in the 300s, he says, given the age, construction standards and energy efficiency of homes built over the past century.
The factors that are measured for the Pearl SCORE in each category include:
Safety — Protection against health hazards, including mold, radon, carbon monoxide and poor air quality.
Comfort — Temperature consistency, humidity control and dampening of outside noise and light.
Operations — Operating costs, maintenance, and efficiency of appliances, water use and heating & cooling systems.
Resilience — Preparedness for extreme weather, climate stress, natural disasters and operational disruptions.
Energy — EV readiness, smart device integration, and the ability to generate, store and manage energy effectively.
“Every buyer and homeowner has different priorities, so if for example someone has a child with asthma, they may want to dig further into the safety category,” LeBaron says.
Consumers can access any home’s Pearl SCORE atpearlscore.com to see its score with the point range in each category and an estimate of operating costs. Eventually, consumers will be able to purchase a report with more details. LeBaron anticipates that feature to be available sometime during the first quarter of 2026.
“One of the best things about the Pearl SCORE is that homeowners and sellers can take control of the data on their house and update it with any improvements they make,” Kibbee says. “They need to upload documentation, but this makes things like the addition of solar panels more visible to potential buyers.”
Buyers and Sellers and Pearl SCORE
Information about the performance and resilience of a property is essential for buyers, Kibbee says.
“One client I worked with planned to buy a duplex but chose a different one after seeing climate risk data from First Street Foundation that showed there was flood risk to the buyer’s initial choice,” Kibbee says. “That’s one small snippet of information compared to what buyers can see with a Pearl SCORE.”
The biggest beneficiaries of the Pearl SCORE will be buyers, LeBaron believes.
“A Pearl SCORE can be a highly useful tool for buyers to compare the performance and operating costs of different homes they’re considering,” he says. “They’ll also be able to see where they can improve a home to add value or lower costs.”
The goal is for everyone to adopt the Pearl SCORE as an easily recognized source of information.
“Buyers are the ones bringing money to the table, so we want them to be the best-informed customers and to have the ability to make decisions based on accurate information,” LeBaron says.
Sellers, particularly those who have invested in a high-performance home or made improvements to their property, want a way to showcase features that are not visible to buyers.
“Our system allows people to claim their home to provide additional information such as photos and documents to improve their score,” LeBaron says. “We’re also developing home improvement plans with guidance for homeowners tailored to their interests such as energy savings or to increase their equity.”
Housing Industry Professionals and Pearl SCORE
Until now, real estate agents have had limited access to information about the performance and operating costs of homes, Kibbee says.
“Buyers want to know what’s behind the walls and how a home operates, but agents didn’t have a single source for that kind of information,” she says. “They could mine information from public records, but a lot of agents don’t have time for that.”
Kibbee, who has earned a Pearl Certification and a Green designation from the National Association of Realtors, sits with her clients to explain in detail what a high-performance house means. The Pearl SCORE will simplify that process and quantify it.
“I was able to show buyers that one of my listings has an operational cost of $17 per month because it’s energy efficient and has solar power, compared to the neighbor’s house, which has an operating cost of $280 per month,” Kibbee says.
Appraisers sometimes struggle with a lack of comparable properties, LeBaron says. The Pearl SCORE provides a metric they can use in any market.
“The Pearl SCORE can be shared with appraisers as a data source to quantify things like energy use,” LeBaron says. “For example, a homeowner who invested $20,000 in solar panels can show the appraiser how much that has saved them over a certain number of years.”
Appraisers may be able to give extra value to a home based on the Pearl SCORE, Kibbee says.
“We’re exposing pretty much what anyone with access to a lot of data could find, whether that’s a mortgage broker, an appraiser or an insurance company,” LeBaron says. “What we’re doing is sharing the data with the public for free and offering homeowners the opportunity to make the data better.”
Research into Pearl’s operating cost data found that it can predict mortgage performance, which indicates that home performance isn’t just about comfort and efficiency – it also improved transparency in financial transactions.
Pearl's development has been supported by partnerships with leading industry organizations, including the U.S. Department of Energy, National Association of Realtors, Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), Appraisal Institute, National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), RESNET, and ENERGY STAR.
Streamlined Home Performance Tool for Every Home
Home performance data on 92 million homes now available to every buyer, seller, homeowner, appraiser and agent.
EnergyStar labels have become so ubiquitous that nearly every consumer knows to check for one before they buy an appliance or a new heat pump. That type of simplified guidance is now available for entire homes thanks to Pearl, a ratings and standards company that quantifies home performance.
“We developed the Pearl Home Performance Registry and the Pearl SCORE program to generate a way to measure how a home performs,” says Robin LeBaron, president and co-founder of Pearl. “We have rich data sources – both public and private – that pull together information on 92 million single-family homes in the U.S.”
Pearl’s mission at a higher level is to drive energy transformation, which they believe can be accomplished more easily when homeowners and buyers understand the importance of home performance.
Homebuyers of every generation say that they focus more on long-term value and operating costs instead of upfront costs when considering a home purchase, according to Green Builder Media’s COGNITION Smart Data. An important element of costs and ongoing value is how well a home manages energy, maintains comfort, protects health and withstands stress.
“The Pearl SCORE is a historic feat – pulling together all the information from hundreds of data points removes a blind spot for buyers,” says N. Carol Kibbee, a Realtor at Coldwell Banker Realty and director of the Well-Dwelling Experts Network in Cincinnati. “Buyers want to know how a home will perform, but until now they could only ask the sellers. Plus, the Pearl SCORE goes way beyond energy efficiency to cover indoor air quality and other important performance measurements.”
High Performance Metrics
The first national database to rate every single-family home in America will also expand to townhouses that control their own heating and cooling systems in another year or so, according to LeBaron. Each home in the current database has a Pearl SCORE from 1 to 1,000 based on five pillars of home performance: safety, comfort, operations, resilience and energy (SCORE).
“A couple of decades ago, home performance wasn’t a thing,” LeBaron says. “Now technology has matured and more homes have solar, heat pumps and induction stoves because consumers are ready for them. The pandemic and widespread smoke from wildfires made people more aware of indoor air quality. Today more homebuyers are concerned about sustainability, resilience and home performance.”
A perfect Pearl SCORE of 1,000 indicates a home that’s equipped to reduce problems in the home, LeBaron says. Most of America’s housing stock scores in the 300s, he says, given the age, construction standards and energy efficiency of homes built over the past century.
The factors that are measured for the Pearl SCORE in each category include:
“Every buyer and homeowner has different priorities, so if for example someone has a child with asthma, they may want to dig further into the safety category,” LeBaron says.
Consumers can access any home’s Pearl SCORE at pearlscore.com to see its score with the point range in each category and an estimate of operating costs. Eventually, consumers will be able to purchase a report with more details. LeBaron anticipates that feature to be available sometime during the first quarter of 2026.
“One of the best things about the Pearl SCORE is that homeowners and sellers can take control of the data on their house and update it with any improvements they make,” Kibbee says. “They need to upload documentation, but this makes things like the addition of solar panels more visible to potential buyers.”
Buyers and Sellers and Pearl SCORE
Information about the performance and resilience of a property is essential for buyers, Kibbee says.
“One client I worked with planned to buy a duplex but chose a different one after seeing climate risk data from First Street Foundation that showed there was flood risk to the buyer’s initial choice,” Kibbee says. “That’s one small snippet of information compared to what buyers can see with a Pearl SCORE.”
The biggest beneficiaries of the Pearl SCORE will be buyers, LeBaron believes.
“A Pearl SCORE can be a highly useful tool for buyers to compare the performance and operating costs of different homes they’re considering,” he says. “They’ll also be able to see where they can improve a home to add value or lower costs.”
The goal is for everyone to adopt the Pearl SCORE as an easily recognized source of information.
“Buyers are the ones bringing money to the table, so we want them to be the best-informed customers and to have the ability to make decisions based on accurate information,” LeBaron says.
Sellers, particularly those who have invested in a high-performance home or made improvements to their property, want a way to showcase features that are not visible to buyers.
“Our system allows people to claim their home to provide additional information such as photos and documents to improve their score,” LeBaron says. “We’re also developing home improvement plans with guidance for homeowners tailored to their interests such as energy savings or to increase their equity.”
Housing Industry Professionals and Pearl SCORE
Until now, real estate agents have had limited access to information about the performance and operating costs of homes, Kibbee says.
“Buyers want to know what’s behind the walls and how a home operates, but agents didn’t have a single source for that kind of information,” she says. “They could mine information from public records, but a lot of agents don’t have time for that.”
Kibbee, who has earned a Pearl Certification and a Green designation from the National Association of Realtors, sits with her clients to explain in detail what a high-performance house means. The Pearl SCORE will simplify that process and quantify it.
“I was able to show buyers that one of my listings has an operational cost of $17 per month because it’s energy efficient and has solar power, compared to the neighbor’s house, which has an operating cost of $280 per month,” Kibbee says.
Appraisers sometimes struggle with a lack of comparable properties, LeBaron says. The Pearl SCORE provides a metric they can use in any market.
“The Pearl SCORE can be shared with appraisers as a data source to quantify things like energy use,” LeBaron says. “For example, a homeowner who invested $20,000 in solar panels can show the appraiser how much that has saved them over a certain number of years.”
Appraisers may be able to give extra value to a home based on the Pearl SCORE, Kibbee says.
“We’re exposing pretty much what anyone with access to a lot of data could find, whether that’s a mortgage broker, an appraiser or an insurance company,” LeBaron says. “What we’re doing is sharing the data with the public for free and offering homeowners the opportunity to make the data better.”
Research into Pearl’s operating cost data found that it can predict mortgage performance, which indicates that home performance isn’t just about comfort and efficiency – it also improved transparency in financial transactions.
Pearl's development has been supported by partnerships with leading industry organizations, including the U.S. Department of Energy, National Association of Realtors, Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), Appraisal Institute, National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), RESNET, and ENERGY STAR.
Publisher’s Note: This content is made possible by our Today’s Homeowner Campaign Sponsors: Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool Corporation takes sustainability seriously, in both their products and their operations. Learn more about building and buying homes that are more affordable and less resource intensive.
By Michele Lerner, Associate Editor
Michele Lerner is an award-winning freelance writer, editor, and author who writes about real estate, personal finance, and business.Also Read