The Quick Green Blog - An Appraiser View

Still not sure if there's a real market for green (or high performance) homes, or that they have a real value premium?  We just did a quick analysis of new construction listings in the Triangle MLS. 

The take-away?  In 2010, certified homes (indicated in the MLS as ENERGY STAR, LEED-H, NC HealthyBuilt, and/or NGBS GreenBuilt) sold for over 10% more per square foot and in nearly 1/3 less time.  There's GREEN in Green!

Here are our findings for new construction home sales that closed in 2010.  Comparing certified homes to non-certified properties, both sold at about 98% of their listing price, with similar square footage.  Average figures for the past year:

NEW CONSTRUCTION CLOSED IN 2010	Avg Sq Ft	Avg SP/SF	Avg DOM
Certified (N=922; 22.5%)	2653	$121.09	97
Non-Certified (N=3178; 77.5%)	2573	$107.27	139
DIFFERENCE	80	$ 13.82	-42
% DIFFERENCE	+3.1%	+12.9%	-30.1%

Note that we also are seeing the market penetration of high-performance homes steadily increasing.  For listings in early 2011, over 30% of the new construction now has at least one certification listed!  That's up from less than 20% in 2009.

Many thanks to everyone who has been "Greening the MLS"; we now have some data to work with, not just anecdotal evidence.