Major Milestone in WELL for Residential Program

“We are immensely proud that the industry has so quickly and widely recognized WELL for residential as a market-leading solution—one that helps people elevate their well-being and thrive where they live,” says IWBI president and CEO Rachel Hodgdon. “This has been a global, collaborative effort to address the urgent need for homes that actively support the health and well-being of their residents while delivering tangible financial benefits for developers and investors alike.” Already, WELL for residential achievements span nearly 10 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, New Zealand, Japan, Italy, Spain, Malaysia and India.

IWBI, the global authority for driving market transformation through healthy buildings, organizations and communities, introduced the WELL for residential program to transform the way homes are designed, built and maintained to support resident health and well-being. With the help of more than 100 strategies, WELL for residential evaluates how health-focused design, operations and behaviors within the home can enhance human well-being. It covers critical aspects like indoor air and water quality, natural lighting, access to fitness and green spaces, and overall strategies promoting physical and mental well-being.

“As the residential real estate market continues to evolve, homebuyers and renters are calling for homes that prioritize their well-being,” says Liz Miles, vice president of residential at IWBI. “Healthy, resilient homes are better positioned to respond to climate impacts and improve residents’ well-being, and the WELL for residential program provides an actionable framework to design and build such communities.”

WELL for residential is the world’s first and only holistic, third-party verified certification program to exclusively address health and well-being in all residence types, including single-family homes and units in multifamily buildings. At the time of its launch in early 2024, WELL for residential garnered 25 global pilot participants that enrolled nearly 30,000 homes and residences.

To create WELL for residential, IWBI convened more than 100 advisors—alongside 20 builder and developer groups—to design a program that would meet the needs of the residential real estate industry. Over the course of two years, the program was informed by extensive input, market insight and expert recommendations from IWBI’s WELL for residential Advisory,[3] a multidisciplinary working group of renowned subject matter experts, including leading builders and developers, architects and engineers, public health and building scientists, government officials and academics, as well as other real estate professionals.

Off the back of this rapid adoption, IWBI also announced that the IWBI Governance Council[4] has formally recognized WELL for residential’s progress through a unanimous vote that ratifies the program. WELL for residential will be graduated as part of the One WELL launch in 2026. The IWBI Governance Council, formally constituted in 2020 and composed of key global thought leaders, public health professionals and business executives, helps uphold the integrity of the development process for IWBI’s certification frameworks and accelerates the broader movement driving WELL’s adoption.

WELL for residential is part of IWBI’s WELL ecosystem, which provides an evidence-based roadmap for thousands of organizations globally to implement health-focused strategies.