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November 3, 2007

McGraw-Hill finds growing green home market

By the U.S. Green Building Council


Green homes, a new study shows, are growing in popularity - and will likely continue to do so as the overall housing market cools.

The 2007 McGraw-Hill Construction SmartMarket Report on Attitudes & Preferences for Remodeling and Buying Green Homes shows a growing market for green homebuilding and green renovation, even amid a downturn in the housing market at large - and maybe even largely because of that downturn.

"True" green homes - which the report defined as containing a specific green building element in at least three of five categories (energy efficiency, indoor air quality, water efficiency, resource efficiency and site management) - made up 0.3 percent of the construction market in 2005, worth almost $2 billion.

But the troubled overall housing market has created a need for homes to offer something different, something that catches homebuyers' attention and differentiates their homes from others. With an increasing awareness of the economic, environmental and health benefits of green homes, that differentiation can be achieved by building green. The report predicts that green homes' growing popularity will boost the "true" green home market to $20 billion by 2010.

And, in fact, the public's awareness of green homes and their benefits is nearing a critical mass, the report finds. Two-thirds of homeowners are aware of green building, with 8 percent extremely knowledgeable.

Meanwhile, fully 85 percent of people who already own green homes are so happy with their new homes, they say they are either likely or highly likely to recommend others build green.

The variety of reasons people buy green homes is huge. The top four reasons given by the participants in the McGraw-Hill study are operational cost savings (90 percent), environmental concerns (84 percent), occupant health (82 percent) and potential higher resale value (73 percent).

Green renovation is also steadily growing in popularity. Nearly 40 percent of home remodeling is being done green, the study reports. The most-used green products for