Health in the home

According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness lifestyle real estate is defined as homes that are proactively designed and built to support the holistic health of their residents. And what really caught my attention was this stat, also from GWI — wellness real estate was a $134 billion industry in 2017, growing by 6.4% annually since 2015. It is projected to reach $197 billion by 2022.

GWI also reported that buyers have demonstrated that they are willing to pay more for healthier built environments.

“Wellness lifestyle real estate developments positioned at the middle/upper ends of the market are achieving home sales price premiums averaging 10–25% (but these can range widely from 5-55%). One reason for this premium is that there is not enough supply to meet demand. According to one survey, there are an estimated 1.3 million potential buyers each year in the United States alone for wellness-infused homes and communities.”

Find out more here: https://bit.ly/wellness-real_estate

The Home Improvement Research Institute is also diving into this issue (www.hiri.org). In a report HIRI reveals “the COVID-19 pandemic only elevated consumers’ awareness of indoor environments’ significant impact on our physical and mental health.”

Earlier this fall, HIRI held its annual Insights Summit where Dr. Jie Zhao, executive vice president and head of Delos, a wellness real estate and technology company based out of New York, discussed the state of this industry and trend. Zhao leads the research and development team (Delos Labs) to create innovative solutions for improving human health and well-being.

“People are much more cognizant of the important role that homes play in our lives and how these environments can have a positive or negative impact on the wellness of their inhabitants,” he said at the summit.

According to an HIRI press release, Zhao identified wellness trends that will likely have the largest impact on home improvement in years to come. Three of those trends are indoor air quality, mental wellness, and home offices.

What was lacking from Zhao’s presentation was the discussion of plants. There is scientific proof that plants improve air quality, boost moods and improve mental wellness, and help people be more productive.

Everyone in the green-industry supply chain must align with organizations like the Global Wellness Institute, the Home Improvement Research Institute and Delos Labs. Find out if there are wellness real estate experts and projects located in your community. Invite them to your nursery or retail establishment. Arm yourself with the science-backed studies I mentioned.

Let’s get a seat at this multibillion-dollar table!