New homes will be even less affordable now that the Building Ministers' Forum has decided to mandate 6-star energy efficient requirements in new dwellings.
Shane Goodwin, HIA's managing director said that the costly regulations will do nothing to address the lack of supply of new homes and will have next to no effect on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
"In fact," he said, "the likelihood is that an escalation in the cost of new dwellings will push prospective new home buyers back into established dwellings that are far less energy efficient than new dwellings."
"The new regulations will not affect existing dwellings. Most greenhouse gas emissions in the residential sector relate to energy use in existing dwellings, the energy rating of which is about 2-stars. New dwellings already have to reach 5-stars," he said.
Goodwin believes that the lack of demonstrated net benefits in the Regulation Impact Statement casts doubt over the purpose and objective of future regulatory impact assessments.
He argues that the best way to tackle greenhouse gas emissions is to educate the community on sustainable energy use in existing dwellings and promote the mass take-up of on-site renewable energy technologies, such as photovoltaic cells and fuel cells.
