Buyers hungry for green, moreso than for space

Those buying custom homes have been known to crave extra space: They want libraries, media rooms, home theaters and sprawling game rooms.

Apparently, though, this is changing, at least a bit. A new report from the American Institute of Architects found that the buyers of custom homes are now more interested in energy-saving “green” features such as extra insulation, tankless water heaters and sustainable flooring than they are in extra rooms.

For example, the architets reported that 68 percent of the survey respondents were interested in extra insulation in their attics.

The “green” building trend has certainly taken off. I just hope that these buyers of custom homes also recognize that building a 6,000-square-foot house — no matter how many bamboo floors it is — really isn’t all that “green.”