The Department of Housing and Urban Development is extending pending compliance dates for energy-efficiency standards on new-construction mortgages, according to a document filed in the Federal Register on March 7.
The department has decided to delay the deadlines for Federal Housing Administration-insured single-family and multifamily loans, as well as “other programs the standards affect and for which the final determination date has not passed.” The recent notice delays compliance dates by six months. In April last year HUD and the Department of Agriculture published the “Final determination: Adoption of energy efficiency standards for new construction of HUD- and USDA-financed housing.”
“The six-month delay will provide additional time for the administration to review questions of fact, law and policy supporting the final determination and determine the need for HUD to develop further technical assistance,” according to the Federal Register notice.
The American Bankers Association views the delay as positive and consistent with its 2025 Blueprint for Growth, which outlines the association’s top policy priorities for the year, including expanding affordable and sustainable housing opportunities across all communities.
The move drew approval from groups such as the National Association of Home Builders and the Community Home Lenders of America. NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes called the development, “an important step forward to help ease the nation’s housing affordability crisis.” Scott Olson, CHLA executive director, welcomed the delay, noting that the proposed requirement could result in the denial of FHA loans “for many homebuyers” and called on HUD to “take final action to permanently shelve this proposal.”
USDA has not yet indicated if it will follow suit.
