06.26.2023/Special Edition

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Priced out: Tough new green energy codes could jack up the cost to build desperately needed homes, apartments, new report finds

That’s one of our key takeaways from a newly released study by researchers at MIT and The Wentworth Institute of Technology.

The state’s new so-called stretch energy code, which towns and cities across Massachusetts are increasingly adopting, has the potential of slapping anywhere from $10,000 to $23,000 onto the cost of building a new single-family home or townhouse, according to the study, commissioned by the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Massachusetts.

The study goes into great detail on the need for tackling emissions in the residential real estate sector, a crucial task given the threat from climate change.

However, without significant government help aimed at covering the increased costs of green building, the new regulations could make it even more difficult for middle-class families to buy a house.

In fact, the percentage of families making $80,000 and $130,000 locked out of market would jump to 47 percent, up from 41 percent now, under the new regs.

“The whole study was born of a recognition that as a state, as a region and really nationally, we are standing at the crossroads of a housing crisis and a climate crisis,” said Rob Brennan, a development attorney in Hyannis who worked with the home builders association on the study.

“The challenge is not to have one go forward without the other and to have both move forward in tandem,” Brennan told Contrarian Boston.

Photo by Brad Weaver on Unsplash