Meeting level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes will add up to £47,000 to the cost of building a house, figures released by the government have revealed.

However, the research finds that the cost of building apartment blocks at level six could be just £19,000. The research, the first detailed assessment of the costs of building zero-carbon homes, finds the price of achieving level five varied from £10,000 to £28,832 and the cost of achieving level four from £6,199 to £13,529. The report claims the cost of compliance will fall up to 25% between now and 2016.