Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.49m | ▼ | 4.74m |
| New Home Sales | 309,000 | ▼ | 344,000 |
| Housing Starts | 583,000 | ▲ | 477,000 |
| Building Permits | 547,000 | ▲ | 531,000 |
| HMI | 9 | UNCH | 9 |
| Existing Home Prices | $170,300 | ▼ (annually) | $199,800 |
| New Home Prices | $201,100 | ▼ (annually) | $232,400 |
More Videos
- Realities of the New Obama Refis
- A Bigger Housing Bailout for Obama
- Home Prices: Are We There Yet?
- Treasury: Jingle Mail A Myth
- How Bad Is The Housing Market? One Man's Tale
- Appraisal Code Sparks Huge Response
- New Rules on Home Appraisals End Up Thwarting Many Sales
- Mortgage Bankers Slash 2009 Forecasts
- $15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit Proposal
- Watch The Mortgage Apps
|
CNBC'S MOST SHARED
- 'We're in the Middle of a Crash': Black Swan
- A Goldman Trading Scandal?
- The Rising Mountain of Debt May Be the Next Crisis
- Latvian Banker Taking Souls as Collateral
- SEC May Reinstate Rules for Short-Selling Stocks
- The Worst Expected 2010 State Budget Gaps
- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Will Resign
- Cuddle Parties Heat Up
- Market 360: The Week's Best & Worst
- Fireworks At Pharma's Market
- Value of Warren Buffett's Annual Gift to Gates Foundation Falls Along With Berkshire's Stock
- Michael Jackson: The Music And The Money
- Five Stock Picks for This Market
- Realities of the New Obama Refis
- Weak Dollar Means Gold at $1,040: Strategist
- Court Ruling Could Mean Trouble for TiVo
- Lance, Please Back Out Of Tour
- Alcoa to Post Loss — What Does This Mean?
- A Goldman Trading Scandal?
- Top Videos: From the Black Swan to the Bond King
- Obama Plan Would Trim Back Financial Powerhouses
- Biden: 'We Misread How Bad The Economy Was'
- FedEx Sees Signs of a Turnaround: Report
- Property Tax Appeals Take Toll on Governments
- Chrysler Names Remaining Directors to New Board
- Car Dealer Determined To Fight Chrysler Over Franchise
REALTY CHECK VIDEO
RSS FEED
Text Size 
 |
So I was surprised to read a study that claims none of America’s 13 largest publicly traded home builders has, “fully embraced the emerging market of sustainable building design and construction.”
Calvert Group, an investment management group, conducted the study with collaboration from the Boston College Institute for Responsible Investment.
“The biggest challenge facing this group is that, for the most part, they have not acknowledged that there is a market for green homes or that they have a role in serving or promoting it,” says the report.
The study does, however, rank the builders in terms of environmental sustainability. Los Angeles-based KB Home [KBH
Loading...
()
] gets the top kudos, while Hovnanian Enterprises [HOV
Loading...
()
], MDC [MDC
Loading...
()
], Standard Pacific [SPF
Loading...
()
] and NVR [NVR
Loading...
()
] are on the so-called “sustainability bottom rung.”
The survey used four “green indicators”: energy use, building-material use, water use, and land use. In the end, it finds that the industry “has a long way to go.” I find this curious since the green building industry -- and I realize this includes appliances and raw materials, etc. -- has grown to about $40 billion, and it actually lags behind Europe. Builders have estimated that by the end of this decade 10 percent of all new homes will be “green.”
I guess you could surmise that most green building is being done by the small to mid-sized private home builders. But I do know that some big guys, like Lennar [LEN
Loading...
()
], are actively working on being more green. A recent article in Builder Magazine tells of how Lennar constructed and tore down 40 prototype homes at an air base in California in order to experiment with “green technologies.”
Like everything else that’s costly and complicated, going green will be a slow process, especially for big builders who have enough trouble just staying in business nowadays. Yet another victim of the housing downturn: no extra cash to invest in greener pastures.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes