Thursday, February 15, 2007

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) just held their annual International Home Builders Show in Orlando, Florida.
Many interesting topics were covered including, Market statistics, green building, boomer buyers, and homes of the future.

Baby boomers are entering into a major home buying bracket. Within the next five years over 40 percent of all households will be headed by someone 55 years old or older. The number of households in the 65-74 age bracket will also grow by 4.5 million between 2005 and 2014. This represents an increase of 38 percent over that ten-year period.

Building energy efficient homes has become big priority for builders. Awards will be given to builders who incorporate features into their building projects such as; energy efficiency, access to community services, transportation, and retail businesses.

A new Green building Agreement is also underway between NAHB and the International Code Council. They intend to develop a resident green building standard that will encourage the building of more green homes. In 2005, NAHB published the Model Green Home Building Guidelines, which has become a nationally recognized certification tool.
Jack Hebert, President of Cold Climate research Center in Fairbanks Alaska spoke about the challenges of creating a green building standard. "The guidelines embody the flexibility that builders need to achieve efficiency and conservation goals without meeting costly national or statewide mandates." Said Hebert. "Simply, there is no one size fits all green building standard. Alaska, North Dakota, Florida and Maine all have different efficiency needs and requirements based on their climate. Solar panels don't work in Fairbanks like they do in Miami. Only flexible, locally grown green building programs can adequately take local issues, architecture, weather and geographic differences into account."

Finally, NAHB's predictions for the "homes of the future” are sparking a lot of interest. “New Urbanism” is the latest home trend. More homes will be offered in pre-built modules, but home square footage will stay relatively the same as previous years. Newer, faster amenities like Electronics and energy efficiency are also on the rise. Homes of the future will have flexible floor plans that include sliding doors, partial walls, and movable wall dividers. Sidewalks will be wider, front porches more spacious and an abundance of community spaces. By 2015, our smart, environmentally friendly home will offer all the conveniences needed to work, play, live, and relax from the comfort of home.

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