What Are Your Priorities in a Home

While not as pronounced as in some industries, housing trends are always in some state of flux.  Family needs, changes in consumer attitudes and other circumstances all have an impact on housing choices and the places we call home.

  Owing to the severe winter we have had, Enbridge (gas) has applied for and has been approved to implement a 40% increase for natural gas effective April 1st. That is a heft increase and will increase the average heating bill by about $400 per year.  We all know about the cost of hydro and Collingwood has just announced user rate increases for sewer and water.  Where or will it all end?

  I read a recent real estate article that summarized what new home builders in the U.S. are finding with respect to consumer demands and not surprisingly, energy efficiency is high on the list. See the accompanying graph I have prepared ranking what home buyers place an importance on.

  Today I came across another article titled 4 Trends That Predict The Home of Tomorrow.  In this article, "extreme energy efficiency" was ranked as the #1 trend for homes of the future.

  Increasingly, I am finding that energy efficiency is becoming more and more of a priority with Buyers in our area.  Electric heat is especially frowned upon and a house where someone was killed may be viewed by some Buyers as having less of a stigma than the electric baseboards.

  What are your thoughts?  How high does energy efficiency rank on your list of priorities with respect to a home?  Take my online survey to the right above and I'll do a posting sharing the results.