How Will the More Stringent Building Energy Codes Affect the Housing Price: A Case Study in Thornton and Westminster in Colorado

Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Qi Ge

Abstract

My paper analyzes the impacts of the more stringent building energy codes, IRC, on the housing price. The dataset is from a leading online real estate broker website from Jan 1st, 2011 to Dec 31st, 2017. Using the difference-in-differences model, I find an overall 16.5% increase in newly built or remodeled houses’ sales price when Thornton changed IRC 2009 to IRC 2015. However, the general housing market does not witness this positive impact on the price. In addition, my paper finds if a house is within 2 or 5 miles to the city center, no significant and consistent effects have been found on the housing price. Therefore, my study provides economic incentives for the municipal government to update the building energy codes regularly.

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