The longstanding confusion on the valuation of green and energy-efficient residential properties has received some much-needed clarification via a new guidance created and distributed by the Appraisal Institute and the Building Codes Assistance Project.
Designed to help all stakeholders in the home sale process, the new guidance includes ways for homebuilders and lenders to help buyers find an appraiser that understands green housing. The guidance also helps buyers to understand the appraisal and loan process, and it features access to a list of qualified appraisers in the Appraisal Institute’s Valuation of Sustainable Buildings Professional Development Program Registry.
“As the leader in green and energy-efficient real estate valuation, the Appraisal Institute provides timely, relevant information to those who need it,” said Appraisal Institute President M. Lance Coyle, MAI, SRA. “Working with the Building Codes Assistance Project, we have produced helpful tips to promote the hiring of competent, qualified appraisers.”
“New homes built to the 2012 or 2015 IECC [International Energy Conservation Code] are high-performing, and the appraisals should reflect that,” said Maureen Guttman, president of the Building Codes Assistance Project. “This letter gives the industry step-by-step guidance to help make that happen.”
The introduction of the new guidance is the latest affirmation on the expansion of green housing’s impact on U.S. residential real estate. Earlier this month, a study conducted by Dodge Data & Analytics in partnership with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Ply Gem Industries found that more than half of home builders expected 60 percent or more of their projects in the next five years will be green homes.
“Builders and remodelers have long recognized that green is the future of home building,” said NAHB Chairman Tom Woods, a home builder from Blue Springs, Mo, adding that the majority of builders “recognize that they need to be at least conversant in green to stay competitive.”
