With the state of residential housing still weighing on the U.S. economy, a study from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) indicates 34 percent of remodelers expect to be doing mostly green remodeling work by 2016, an increase of 150 percent over 2011 levels.
Log in to view the full article
With the state of residential housing still weighing on the U.S. economy, a study from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) indicates 34 percent of remodelers expect to be doing mostly green remodeling work by 2016, an increase of 150 percent over 2011 levels.
Green home building, on the other hand, is also expected to increase by 2016. Newly built green homes comprised 17 percent of the residential market in 2011; by 2016, the NAHB expects that figure to be between 29 percent and 38 percent of the market. By value, this will reflect a five-fold increase, growing from $17 billion in 2011 to $87-$114 billion in 2016, based on a five-year forecast for overall residential construction.
"The housing market is critical to the U.S. economy," said Harvey M. Bernstein, VP of Industry Insights and Alliances, McGraw-Hill Construction, "and the results of our study show that despite the drastic downturn in housing starts since 2008, green has grown significantly as a share of activity-indicating that the green market is becoming an important part of our overall economic landscape."
The study revealed business benefits of green building, like a competitive marketing advantage; 46 percent of builders and remodelers told NAHB that "building green" makes it easier to market themselves in a down economy.
"Home buyers and builders increasingly want to do what's right for the environment," said Jim Halter, VP for construction solutions at Waste Management, which helped produce the study. "This trend has been taking off within our business as customers look to recycle and divert more materials from landfills. We're excited to see the results of the study; they validate the services we offer."
Final results of the Green Home Builders and Remodelers Study will be published in April; however, the NAHB discussed preliminary findings during its International Builders' Show, which will end Saturday.
Along with the rise in green remodeling, the NAHB reported that the overall remodeling market is growing as a result of the poor economy; about 62 percent of builders who do both new and remodeling work verified that the economy has increased their renovation work. In January, the NAHB's Remodeling Market Index (RMI) reached a 5-year high.
The strongest sectors of the remodeling market at present are aging-in-place retrofits, energy efficiency upgrades, and reinvesting in distressed properties, the NAHB reported. The leading indicator for remodeling points to continued market volatility, but stronger growth in the second half of 2012.
"Spending on improvements to owner-occupied housing is nearly equal to that of new residential construction," said Paul Emrath, NAHB's vice president for survey and housing policy research. "NAHB predicts that residential remodeling will rise 8.9 percent in 2012."
