Looks like “cap and trade” is no longer limited to the carbon market. Boulder, Colorado has just put in place a similar policy for limiting the size of houses:
“Boulder County, Colorado has yet to see the effects of recently passed restrictions on the size of new housing. The plan seeks to encourage people to build smaller houses by granting “development credits” that could be earned by reducing the size of a new home. These credits could then be sold to builders who desire to build a home larger than 6,000 square feet.”
Although this “cap and trade: plan for limiting the size of new construction has seen little or no activity some believe that once the housing market improves the new plan will become an important tool to help limit the construction of excessively large homes that use more resources both in construction and the energy used once occupied.
I’m not sure that arbitrary limits of this sort will really drive much of a change in the market. Progressive property tax structures have served somewhat the same purpose with little appreciable impact on the constant increase in average home size.
One a lasting result of the current recession will be to drive people to reconsider the size and scope of many life decisions including the size of a home. Baby boomers are going to recognize that retirement is looming and the 401k is only half of what it was a year ago. This I think will drive many of us to scale down in our expectations and our expenditures. This will have the effect of slowing the growth of the average new home.
I also think that millennials have an unprecedented moral outlook to sustainability. As they move into the prime home buying years the homes they choose will reflect a moral currency that is derived from sustainable life choices including the size and nature of their home.
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jun/16/boulder-county-commissioners-tweak-house-size-rule/
