06 Oct Consumers Still Want Sustainable Homes

A recent survey of architects shows that homeowners are increasingly looking for practical and space efficient floorplans instead of extravagant ones with single-purpose rooms.

According to a Builderonline.com article, the American Institute of Architects’ latest Home Design Trends Survey asked 300 architects about emerging preferences in design features among households and consumers. The results are not surprising as they continue to point towards a couple of already strong themes.

Home offices are still a strong interest among buyers as reported by 34% of surveyed architects. While the demand for these rooms has declined a little, experts believe that the demand will stay relatively high as the recession lingers. As far as specialty rooms go, home offices were the only ones that were in demand according to architects. Home gyms, game rooms, and home theaters have decreased in popularity as consumers look to buy more space-efficient homes.

Home buyers continue to question architects about resource-efficient and cost saving products. This includes questions pertaining to energy-efficient, low-maintenance, and water-saving products. Half of all surveyed architects reported a strong interest among home buyers for products in these categories including tank-less water heaters and water reclamation systems.

For now it seems that a demand for resource and space efficiency is holding strong as we ride out the recession. A question of the future still remains though. Will these building trends carry over to a post-recession world or will we return to our upsized home desires? There are conflicting opinions but it’s hard to imagine consumers totally reverting to their old ways now that they are aware of the benefits of sustainability and space-efficiency.