Yes, in a conventional sense, from starter homes to McMansions, housing prices have dive bombed 40-65 percent (or more) since 2005. Existing home sales are in the same boat, and in frequent cases, homeowners are underwater. As the building boom that ended nationwide in about 2006 (around 2005 for Michigan), scaled back, it then imploded as the financial markets collapsed in 2008. Any hope for a speedy recovery dissolved. I remember an economist speaking at a national housing conference that I attended in the fall of 2006 predicted that we wouldn't get to 2005 numbers (about 1.6 million homes annually) until 2008. In 2007, the prediction changed to 2009. In 2009, it changed to "late 2010, early 2011." I haven't really paid attention to the 2011 forecast. But I have a hunch what it might say...

If we look at code minimum housing, no, it's not a good investment. If it's shelter, it's not a good investment, if it's our entertainment recluse, it's not a good investment. However, if we look at it as a way to save energy dollars, it's a great investment if it is extremely energy efficient. If we save more per month in energy dollars over a convential house, we are recouping money in excess of our mortgage payment (that is the extra cost of our mortgage over a conventional home).

I think we can all agree that energy costs will keep rising. If you consider what you pay every month for utilities, and then factor in what those cost will be in a decade, an energy upgrade or new energy efficient home begins to be a true investment. Not in the sense that it will increase in value--which it may--but leave that out of consideration. Only consider that as the cost for a unit of energy increases, a home using fewer units of energy will control that cost. It is something tangible, as opposed to hoping that granite countertops will increase in value. Simple, right? 

It's not only the dollars. An energy efficient home is almost always more comfortable. In the past few years of energy upgrades that we have completed, our number one compliment is how much warmer in the winter (and cooler in the summer). Of course, the financial side is a very close second.

A builder in Washington has taken the time to attach spreadsheet in this article.