McGraw-Hill Construction, part of The McGraw-Hill Companies, recently released findings from a new Green Home Builders and Remodelers study. 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 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, vice president of Industry Insights and Alliances for McGraw-Hill Construction. “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.”

“This study demonstrates phenomenal growth in green building and indicates that we can expect even larger increases in the coming years,” said Barry Rutenberg, NAHB chairman and a home builder from Gainesville, FL. “In a sample of NAHB builder and remodeler members, nearly 90% reported building green at some level. This is a powerful testament to the importance of green home building-and transforms the way we think of homes overall.”

By 2016, many more builders anticipate that they will be dedicated to green building work on over 90% of projects-33% expect to be dedicated to green work in 2016, up from 17% in 2011. Remodeling will grow even more dramatically; 22% of remodelers report that they anticipate they will be dedicated to green work in 2016, nearly triple the 8% who report being dedicated to green work in 2011. These builders are clued into the revenue opportunity afforded by green building and know that home buyers will pay more for green homes, according to 61% of builders and 66% of remodelers.

“Home buyers and builders increasingly want to do what’s right for the environment,” said Jim Halter, vice president of Construction Solutions, Waste Management. “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.”

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