Green homes sell for more and faster than other homes
Green homes are outselling the rest of the real estate market, more research from the Pacific Northwest indicates.
The homes that underwent the strictest certification, being tested by third parties, and thus likely to be the "greenest" did even better. They commanded prices 25% higher than regular homes, says the ECert report by Seattle-based GreenWorks Realty. It evaluates data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which began allowing real estate agents to mark homes as eco-certified in 2007.
What's more, the report finds that green homes continued to rise in value in King County, which includes Seattle, from November 2009 through January 2010, while non-certified ones lost value.
Other research indicates this trend is occurring elsewhere, too.
In the Portland, Ore., metro area, green-certified homes sold for 12% more -- an average of $408,915 -- than non-certified homes from May 2008 through April 2009, according to a report last year from the Portland-based non-profit Earth Advantage Institute.
Its analysis, based on data from the Regional Multiple Listing Service, also saw a premium per square foot, as eco homes got $193 compared with $173 for other homes.
Why are green homes outselling their competitors?
"The reasons why buyers favor e-certified homes are not rocket science, but people have different motivations," writes Ben Kaufman, owner of GreenWorks Realty, which authored the Seattle report. Aside from wanting lower utility bills, he adds:
Some buy as a commitment to reducing climate change with the higher energy efficiency that green homes offer. Others buy because the homes are built with nontoxic materials, which makes the indoor-air quality cleaner than their traditional counterparts.
National data are not available, because most multiple listing services do not have special categories for green-rated homes that make them easy to track.
In both studies, eco homes are an increasing share of the overall new home market. In the Seattle analysis, the 973 green-rated homes that sold made up 33% of the total market. In the Portland metro area study, 674 such homes sold, representing 16% of all sales.
In both studies, the homes are considered "green" if they receive certification from the government's Energy Star or the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. The Seattle study also includes those rated by Built Green and the Portland one, those by Earth Advantage Homes.