We all know how the market has been slow for a while and most likely will continue to slow. But we also all know that markets are cyclical and home prices will level out and the cranes will be moving all over the city soon again.  At the recent Urban Land Institute 2008 Real Estate Trends event, which has expert moderators and keynote speakers giving their outlook on the coming year, there were many mixed moods in the crowd. While the morale was rather low after Elliot Pollack’s morose speech on housing, we will be seeing a major change in the philosophy of many major developers and homebuilders.

KB Homes has already launched a new environmental friendly marketing program, which is a great leap for one of the most prominent builders in the country. Gadi Kauffman, preached that companies need to stop doing what doesn’t work and reform their entire marketing scheme. We will see a lot of new Green products hit the market, not only from small developers, such as Modus Development, but hopefully from the biggest homebuilders too. Modus, headed by Ed Gorman is the first producer of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) homes in Arizona. His mission is to continue building only LEED certified homes, townhomes and condominiums. If you haven’t seen his first project, The Galleries at Turney, you should definitely take a look…there will be a lot more to come.

Hopefully, if developers and homebuilders face the facts and change their policies, the Valley will become a more eco-friendly place.

If you want to learn more about the ULI Trends Event, you can check out www.arizona.uli.org