Report says new building codes raise costs

Massachusetts faces two enormous challenges: The cost of housing and the changing climate. And while nearly everyone agrees the state needs to tackle both of them, the debate over a recent report highlights how — at least to some — the solutions sometimes conflict. The report, published by the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Massachusetts (HBRAMA), and written by economists at MIT and Wentworth, argues that the new net-zero building codes being adopted by communities around the state could increase the cost of building a new single-family home by anywhere from $10,000 to $23,000. That, they warn, could push housing out of reach for even more Massachusetts families. But climate advocates, city council members, and state officials are pushing back, noting the homebuilders’ report failed to account for energy savings over the life of a house from adopting greener technology, or the myriad incentives that the state offers to subsidize its installation. It amounts, they said, to painting decarbonization as exacerbating the housing crisis. Houses built under the new codes would use energy-efficient insulation, heating and cooling systems, and even windows, similar to the current stretch codes, only with more stringent caps. The specialized energy codes for new buildings are not mandatory — cities and towns have to vote to adopt them. So far, Cambridge, Brookline, and Concord are among the places that have done so, with new codes set to take effect in January 2024. For builders, anyway, those costs add up. Researchers at the MIT Center for Real Estate and Wentworth Institute of Technology estimated they would raise the cost of single-family homes by 1.8 to 3.9 percent, no small sum in a state where the price of the median single-family house in April amounted to $553,500. — ARUNI SONI