Green Office Buildings Command Higher Capital Values

GLOBAL – Knight Frank discovered that eco-friendly office buildings have higher selling prices as compared to non-green rate developments, reported The Business Times on Wednesday afternoon (13 October, SGT).

In fact, the real estate consultancy found out that green office buildings in prime Central London with a BREEAM Excellent rating are 10.5 percent more expensive than similar office unrated office buildings. Likewise, those with a BREEAM Very Good rating commanded a 10.1 percent premium in their capital values.

Over in Australia, prime office buildings in Sydney & Melbourne with a NABERS rating of 5 and above are 17.9 percent pricier than similar unrated office developments, whereas office buildings with a lower NABERS score enjoyed an 8.3 percent premium.

Notably, BREEAM is considered one of the most recognised sustainability assessment methods in the world for buildings, infrastructure, and master planned developments. Its grading system also takes into account the value of higher performing properties across the different built environment lifecycle from new construction to occupation and renovations. As for NABERS, it is a simple eco-friendly scoring system for the built environment sector.

Meanwhile, real estate consultancy Knight Frank named London, Shanghai, New York, Paris and Washington DC as the 5 leading cities in the world for green-rated properties. The metropolises were ranked based on different attributes, like the amount of urban green space, well-developed public transport networks, and high number of green-rated developments.

Interestingly, the real estate consultancy discovered that the top 5 cities are home to universities that are benchmarked against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 11, which assesses the strength of research into sustainable communities and cities.