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Builder Confidence Improves in February

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose two points to 17 in February as favorable home buying conditions and signs of healing in the job market helped boost the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

Factors that have helped boost confidence include:

- Continued low interest rates
- Attractive home prices that appear to have stabilized in many markets
- The availability of the home buyer tax credit
- the improving employment market

Several limiting factors are still weighing down builder expectations, including the large number of foreclosed homes on the market, the lack of available credit for new and existing projects, and inappropriately low appraisals tied to the use of distressed properties as comps.

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for more than 20 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months, as well as asking builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers. Regionally, February’s HMI results were mixed. While the Midwest and South each registered two-point gains, to 13 and 19, respectively, the Northeast and West each registered one-point declines, to 19 and 14, respectively.

Matt Phair, HousingZone Contributing Editor
February 17, 2010
HousingZone

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Posted in 2010 DV Wise, Certified Green Professionals, General Info, National Association of Home Builders, North Carolina Home Builders Association | No Comments »

NAHB Honors The Year’s Best In Green Home Building

Monday, September 21st, 2009

May 11, 2009 – Home building industry leaders honored the best in green residential design and outstanding advocacy efforts at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) National Green Building Awards.

The sold-out awards dinner on May 8 kicked off the 11th annual NAHB National Green Building Conference, which was held in Dallas last weekend. Don Ferrier of Ferrier Custom Homes in Fort Worth, honored as the 2007 Green Builder Advocate of the Year, served as master of ceremonies.

In a trying year for the home building industry, when housing starts dropped to record lows in a sputtering economy, green homes represent “hope and the future, and the future is green home building,” Ferrier said. “The ladies and gentlemen we honor this evening understand that. These awards honor their leadership and their practical example to others in the industry.”

The winners were:

Concept Home of the Year – CVH Inc., for a home in Coupeville ,Wash. Tight insulation and other energy-efficient features meant homeowners spent $76 on electricity in the first month they lived there – and that was before the builder installed photovoltaic panels on the rooftop and the monthly bill became a credit, rather than a debit, Ferrier said.

Affordable Home of the Year – Imagine Homes, San Antonio, Texas. The company noted for its cost-effective techniques to attract first-time buyers was honored for the second year in a row.

Luxury Home of the Year: Solaire Homebuilders of Bend, Ore. With beautiful interior finishes, this custom home was built with reclaimed and recycled materials and designed to be 60 percent more energy efficient than required by code.

Production Home of the Year – Celebrate by Del Webb, an active-adult community in Fredericksburg, Va., is taking green features to a larger scale and now certifying the homes in this new development to the National Green Building Standard.

Single-family Remodeling Project of the Year – Honors went to Red-B Construction for a Durham, N.C., home with striking design and extensive use of deconstruction techniques that improve resource efficiency.

Multifamily Remodeling Project of the Year – Hardwick G.C. Inc. of Orlando, Fla., turned an early 20th-century bungalow into a charming duplex that has a rainwater harvesting system, native landscaping and other water-efficient features.

Multifamily Rental Project of the Year – Tonti Properties’ 270-unit community in Frisco, Texas, is the first Energy Star-certified development in the region. The company created an on-site tree farm during contruction to enable landscapers to replant trees moved during the building process.

Condominium Project of the Year – Onion Flats LLC of Philadelphia created an 8-unit infill project in the Northern Liberties neighborhood featuring slick, modern design, solar panels, green roofs and great city views.

Townhouse Project of the Year – Asdal Builders LLC was honored for a New Jersey rental development that caters to senior citizens and focuses on sustainable, low-maintenance design and cost-effective geothermal heating.

Development of the Year – The community of Woodlands Edge in Little Rock, Ark., developed by Rocket Properties LLC has nature trails, wildlife preservation areas and an extensive education program for its residents focused on environmental stewardship of the grounds.

Build San Antonio Green and the Missoula (Mont.) Building Industry Association were honored as the local green home building programs of the year, while the city of Chicago was named Governmental Advocate of the Year for its extensive voluntary energy-efficiency improvement programs and for encouraging green roofs on high-rise buildings.

EcoBroker International won Group Advocate of the Year honors for its green building education efforts among real estate brokers.

Donna Shirey, a longtime NAHB Remodelers leader and green-building professional from Seattle, was honored as Remodeling Advocate of the Year.

Architect Michelle Kaufmann, known for her groundbreaking green and modular design, was named Individual Advocate of the Year.

John Freer, a longtime Missoula BIA leader and founder of the association’s green building council, was honored as NAHB Green Builder Advocate of the Year.

Source: NHBA/Green Builders Info

DV Wise

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Posted in Certified Green Professionals | No Comments »

NAHBGreen Expands Through State, Local Builder Association Affiliation

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

October 15, 2008 – The state home builder associations of Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York and Oklahoma have affiliated with the NAHB National Green Building Program, National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Chairman Sandy Dunn announced this morning.

The new affiliation makes it even easier for home buyers in those states to find green homes and provides additional technical training, education and business opportunities for HBA members.

“I’m delighted to welcome the home builders in these seven states to the certification services offered through NAHBGreen,” said Dunn, who is a home builder in Point Pleasant, W. Va.,. “Our members are looking for an authentic, cost-effective and voluntary way to offer certified green homes to their clients, and they will find it in www.NAHBGreen.com.”

In addition to serving as a gateway to green home certification services, NAHBGreen-affiliated programs offer green building seminars and classes to their members, including the Green Building for Building Professionals class required for builders, remodelers and others seeking the Certified Green Professional educational designation from the NAHB University of Housing. Nearly 1,300 industry professionals have earned the designation since its February introduction.

Buyers seeking homes built with energy-, water- and resource-efficient features can call their local home building associations to find green builders in their area – or meet them at the Parades of Homes, Green Home Expos and other consumer events sponsored by affiliated programs.

Seven local HBAs also affiliated with NAHBGreen last week:

Huntsville / Madison County, Ala., Builders Association

Northern Idaho Building Contractors Association

Home Builders Association of Jackson, Miss.

Lake Norman, N.C., Home Builders Association

Wilmington-Cape Fear, N.C., Home Builders Association

Johnson City, Tenn., Area Home Builders Association

Building Industry Association of Clark County, Wash.

“The future of home building is green, and if you don’t get ahead of it now, you’ll be left behind,” noted Jeff Stokley, president of the Wilmington-Cape Fear HBA. His HBA is encouraging its members to become Certified Green Professionals and building up its ranks of home verifiers so builders can draw on their expertise as well.

Stokley himself has broken ground on a 1,132-unit development in which he expects each home to achieve at least NAHB silver-level certification. The development will open in the spring.

National Green Building Certification is administered by the NAHB Research Center, which trains and accredits local verifiers to inspect homes in their area. NAHB oversees the educational offerings, including the annual NAHB National Green Building Conference, which takes place May 8-10, 2009 in Dallas, and the NAHB National Green Building Awards.