New LEED in Motion: Residential report shows expansion of LEED in the real estate market

Heather Benjamin
August 12, 2019
Real Estate

On August 7, USGBC released its new LEED in Motion: Residential report, sharing trends in the green homes market for LEED-certified units.

LEED certification can be flexibly applied to both single-family and multifamily residential projects, for both sale and rental properties—and the numbers in this report show how LEED is quickly transforming the real estate market.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, as of the first quarter of 2019, housing contributed $2.78 trillion to the gross domestic product. In this growing market, LEED provides additional opportunities to stand out: a study in Texas reported that between 2008 and 2016, LEED-certified homes showed an 8 percent boost in value.

LEED-certified homes by the numbers

The data shows that LEED-certified homes

  • Have grown in number by 19% since 2017.
  • Encompass more than 400,000 single-family, multifamily and affordable housing units in the United States. Of those units, more than 5,000 have achieved LEED Platinum, the highest level of certification available.
  • Use an average of 20–30% less energy than a home built to code, with some reporting energy savings as much as 60% over code requirements.
  • Cover 46,252,746 total square feet in California, the state with the most certified units.

Take a look at our infographic of the top 10 U.S. states for LEED residential certifications:

Meeting the highest standards for green homes

LEED in Motion: Residential breaks down how LEED certification addresses six categories valued by renters, homeowners, builders and property managers alike: human health and comfort, energy, water efficiency, location, materials and resilience. As a third-party-verified program, LEED certification means detailed documentation review and testing to ensure projects meet the highest standards for performance in all these categories—and cultivates a greater living standard for our communities.

The report also includes nine profiles of special projects, people and programs that are leading in the U.S. residential market for LEED. Learn from their successes and explore residential opportunities with LEED v4.1.

Read the LEED in Motion: Residential report

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