HUD drafts delay for new-build energy efficiency standards

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is preparing to push some pending compliance dates for energy-efficiency standards on new construction mortgages further down the road, according to a preliminary document.

The draft filed in the Federal Register shows HUD is planning to postpone deadlines for Federal Housing Administration-insured single-family and multifamily loans, in addition to other programs the standards affect and for which final determination date has not passed.

The move comes soon after the National Association of Home Builders sued HUD and the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the energy efficiency standards introduced in 2024.

NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes called the development, “an important step forward to help ease the nation’s housing affordability crisis” and urged the USDA “to take the same action,” in a press statement.

Builders had estimated that the requirements to bring standards in line with the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code would adds tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a new home.

The delay “will provide additional time for the administration to review questions of fact, law and policy,” according to HUD’s draft.

The document, which is due to be officially published on Monday, indicates HUD is considering extending the single-family compliance date for which the building permit application is the initiation event to 24 months after the effective date of May 28, 2026.

The multifamily compliance date would be extended to 18 months after the effective date of Nov. 28 if the draft gets published Monday as it appeared on Friday.

The FHA also recently issued a waiver for new construction requirements aimed at mitigating flood risk, suggesting it’s been reviewing building standards more broadly.