90% of Home Building Will Have Green Features by 2016

By 2016, most home builders say that green building technologies will be used in 90% of projects and 33% say they will be dedicated to green building in 2016, up from 17% today, reports McGraw-Hill’s Construction arm.

Green homes comprised 17% of the overall residential construction market in 2011 and are expected to grow to 29%-38% of the market by 2016. By value, this equates to a
five-fold increase, growing from $17 billion in 2011 to $87-$114 billion in 2016, based on the five-year forecast for overall residential construction.

According to the study, construction industry professionals report an even steeper increase in green home remodeling; 34% of remodelers expect to be doing mostly green work by 2016, a 150% increase over 2011 activity levels.

Many home builders have shifted to the remodeling market due to the drastic drop in new home construction. 

In 2011 only 8% of builders say they do only green remodeling, but 22% expect they’ll be "pure" green in 2016.

46% of builders and remodelers say "building green" makes it easier to market themselves in a down economy, and an
overwhelming 71% of firms that are dedicated to green home building report the same. They also know home buyers will pay more for green homes, say 61% of builders and 66% of remodelers.

"Despite the drastic downturn in housing starts since 2008, green has grown significantly as a share of activity – indicating the green market is becoming an important part of our overall economic
landscape," says Harvey Bernstein, VP of Industry Insights and Alliances, McGraw-Hill Construction.

Many factors are driving the green homes market, with "higher quality" and "increases in energy costs" topping the list. Buyers and homeowners recognize that green homes have lower bills due to higher building performance and costs to build green are down significantly. It now costs 7% more to build or renovate green, compared to 10% in 2008 and 11% in 2006.

The West Coast leads in green building growth, followed by the northern Midwest, and New England.

In the first study on green building jobs, McGraw-Hill Construction found that 35% of architects, engineers and contractor positions are now green.

Canaccord Genuity expects green building’s share of the world construction market to be over 20% by 2013.

Here’s the report: