The green building market, according to the 2013 Dodge Construction Green Outlook report from McGraw-Hill, is expected to more then triple in the next four years.

By Peter Ricci

The 2013 Dodge Construction Green Outlook report, McGraw-Hill’s oft-cited study of the green building market, is predicting great things for green building in the U.S., estimating that the market will more than triple in the next four years to a total market value of $204 to $248 billion.

The last three years alone have seen huge growth for the green market, which has flourished from a $10 billion market in 2005 to $78 billion in 2011; by the end of 2012, McGraw-Hill is expecting the green market to value at  $85 billion.

Green Building Market Growing Rapidly

The green building market, the Green Outlook report continued, is projected to grow by as much as 25 percent in the next year. Other findings from the report included:

• Residential green construction is expected to make up 20 percent of the residential construction market by the end of 2012.
• The Green Outlook report expects that share to increase to 22-25 percent of the market in 2013, which is a value of $34-$38 billion.
• By 2016, that share will increase further to a 29-38 percent share, or, $89-$116 billion market value.
• Along with that rising market share, 35 percent of construction jobs are for the green building market, in come 2016, one third of all homebuilders in the U.S. are expected to be fully dedicated to the green building market.

Green Building Market – An Opportunity for Agents

Laura Stukel, an agent with L.W. Reedy Real Estate in Elmhurst who received NAR’s first-ever Green Industry Advocate Award, said she has been anticipating the growth of the green building market for some time now.

“Since I got into this market in 2008, I’ve been predicting this market to take shape,” she said.

And the way the market has taken shape, Stukel added, has been implicit – builders, she explained, are consciously building “green” homes to keep up with dramatically updating building codes (particularly here in Illinois), but on the consumer side, they purchase the homes not necessarily because they are “green,” but because green homes have superior levels of health, safety and efficiency of homes; and by no sheer coincidence, health-related green building labels, according to McGraw-Hill, are growing the fastest.

This trend towards sustainability and quality, Stukel concluded, gives agents new opportunities to work with their clients.

“This expands the role of the agent beyond the closing table,” she said. “Now, they can show their clients what it takes to enjoy their property over the long term.”