Green Homes Market Growing

Green encompasses much more then just solar or wind and other ways to harness those and other natural alternatives or possible man made.

Expected to Increase Five-Fold by 2016 - Up From a $17 Billion Opportunity Today - Says New McGraw-Hill Construction Study

Green remodeling is growing especially fast due to the economy and decline in new home construction

Feb. 9, 2012 - McGraw-Hill Construction, a part of The McGraw-Hill Companies MHP -0.46% , today released findings from a new Green Home Builders and Remodelers Study at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) International Builders' Show in Orlando. Green homes comprised 17% of the overall residential construction market in 2011 and are expected to grow to between 29% and 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 fact, 62% of the builders who do both new and remodeling work verified that the economy has increased their renovation work.

"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." read more>>>