Posts Tagged ‘home buyers’

National Green Building Standard Commentary Now Available at BuilderBooks.com

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

The National Green Building StandardTM Commentary, the companion publication to the ANSI-approved National Green Building Standard, is now available for purchase through BuilderBooks.com, the publishing arm for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).  

Released at the 2010 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas last month, the Commentary provides valuable insight to the intention and implementation of the practices and provisions found in the standard.  Developed with the input of members of the ICC 700-2008 Consensus Committee who developed the standard, the Commentary is a useful resource for any designer or builder using the ICC 700-2008 as a rating system for developing or renovating residential properties of all types, to reduce their relative environmental impact.

The National Green Building Standard is a scoring tool and certification protocol that assures projects have met stringent benchmarks in energy, water and resource efficiency, indoor environmental quality and lot and site design. It is the first such system to be approved by the American National Standards Institute. The standard covers single-family homes, apartments and condos, residential land development and home remodeling projects, and is administered by the NAHB Research Center, which also accredits local verifiers around the country.

“This new resource allows readers to better navigate the National Green Building Standard,” said Bob Jones, NAHB Chairman and a home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “Each chapter breaks down the different components contained in the standard, allowing builders and remodelers to learn the best way to build green in their own communities.”

www.nahb.org

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NAHB Green

Monday, December 21st, 2009

On February 14, 2008, the National Association of Home Builders launched the NAHB National Green Building Program commonly referred to as “NAHB Green.” The program is a comprehensive set of educational resources; advocacy tools, rating systems, and access to a National Green Building Certification service that help home builders anywhere build green homes, and homebuyers at all price points buy them.

Throughout the country, green home building has become more common and more mainstream in recent years. The number of home builders using green building technologies and techniques has been steadily increasing as they see its market advantages. While building green isn’t for everyone, the need to make sure that green building programs remain voluntary, market driven, and based on sound technical information is a key issue for NAHB. In fact, NAHB Green is the result of years of builders’ and local associations’ efforts throughout the NAHB federation. These efforts have led to the construction of thousands of green homes all over the country, as well as the development of dozens of local green building programs coordinated by or associated with state and local home builder associations.

Local programs are a home builder’s primary source for information, education, and networking on all topics-and green building techniques are no different. Green home building, however, also has led to the development of additional needs, like establishing a locally credible green rating criteria and certifying homes to those criteria. Working these services into a local program, and bringing in education and networking activities can be tremendous opportunities for an association to expand its scope and revenue.

This tool kit is designed for state and local associations seeking resources for their members; associations that are interested in starting local programs; and existing programs that want to take advantage of national resources. In all cases, there are instructions here about affiliating with NAHB Green, as well as descriptions of various resources that will help as you get a local program underway.

Read More: http://www.nchba.org/images/stories/councils/hba_green_toolkit_aug08.pdf

Source: www.nchba.org

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Housing Affordability Record-High Level for Third Consecutive Quarter

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Nationwide housing affordability, bolstered by affordable interest rates and low house prices, hovered for the third consecutive quarter near its highest level since the series was first compiled 18 years ago, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) released today.

The HOI showed that 70.1 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the third quarter of 2009 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,000, down slightly from a near-record 72.3 percent during the previous quarter and up from 56.1 percent during the third quarter of 2008.

“At a time when housing is at its most affordable, we applaud the recent actions taken by Congress and President Obama to stimulate housing by extending the federal tax credit beyond its Nov. 30 deadline and expanding it to a wider group of eligible home buyers,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “With interest rates now lower than last quarter, the tax credit will encourage even more home buyers to enter the market and help stabilize housing and the economy by creating new jobs, stimulating home sales, reducing foreclosures, cutting excess inventories and stabilizing home prices.”

Indianapolis was the most affordable major housing market in the country during the third quarter, a position the metro area now has held for 17 consecutive quarters. Almost 95 percent of all homes sold were affordable to households earning the area’s median family income of $68,100.

Also near the top of the list of the most affordable major metro housing markets were Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa., and three Michigan metropolitan areas, Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn; Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills; and Grand Rapids-Wyoming.

Five smaller housing markets posted even higher affordability scores than Indianapolis, with Kokomo, Ind. outscoring all others. There, 96.7 percent of homes sold during the third quarter of 2009 were affordable to median-income earners. Other smaller housing markets near the top of the index included Springfield, Ohio; Bay City, Mich.; Mansfield, Ohio; and Elkhart-Goshen, Ind.

New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J., was the nation’s least affordable major housing market during the third quarter of 2009, the New York metro area’s sixth consecutive appearance at the bottom of the list. Slightly more than 19 percent of all homes sold during the third quarter were affordable to those earning the New York area’s median income of $64,800.

The other major metro areas near the bottom of the affordability scale included San Francisco; Honolulu; Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif.; and Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y.

San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif. was the least affordable of the smaller metro housing markets in the country during the third quarter. Others near the bottom of the chart included Ocean City, N.J.; Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif.; Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, Calif.; and Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas.

Source: www.nahb.org

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