The last few months have seen a housing approval frenzy in Australia. The Housing Industry Association (HIA) reported that the first few months of 2015 had the highest numbers of dwelling approvals in 32 years.

“New home building continues to benefit from the exceptionally low level of interest rates, as well as strong population growth over recent years in the key home buyer age group,” said Shane Garrett, senior economist at HIA.

Similarly, the latest Australian Residential Development Outlook also found data supporting strong numbers of housing construction in Australia, predicting that the trend would continue to swell.

“Recent improvements in new housing supply are expected to continue, adding tens of thousands of homes for Australian families and easing pricing pressures to improve affordability,” said Nick Proud, Property Council of Australia’s executive director for residential.

If you are among the many thousands who had their new dwelling applications approved, chances are you’re starting to work on architectural and construction plans. Now is a great time to also start considering how you want your home’s energy set up. Making clever energy efficient choices in the early steps can help you save much more money in the long run.

However, the budget can often become an obstacle for making green steps. With builders and engineers to pay and savings to put towards the costs of construction itself, it may seem like there isn’t much finance left over to invest in renewable energy such as domestic solar hot water systems.

Don’t worry if you’re stuck in this predicament, because there are ways to go solar on a budget. Here at Apricus, we offer Solar-Ready Tanks that are ideal for new home builds without too many costs. Essentially, they work like an electric hot water system until you’re ready to go solar, as they have built-in solar capabilities so its very easy to make a solar transition down the road.