On the value of environmental certification in the commercial real estate market

Abstract

on the value of environmental certification in the commercial real estate market(cid:73) rogier holtermansa,∗, nils kokb auniversity of southern california, lusk center for real estate, 650 childs way, ralph & goldy lewis hall - suite 331, los angeles, ca 90089-0626, united states of america bmaastricht university, school of business and economics, p.o. box 616, 6200 md, maastricht, the netherlands abstract a significant part of the global carbon externality stems from buildings. environmental certification is often hailed as an effective means to resolve the information asymmetry that may prevent markets from effectively pricing the energy performance of buildings. this study analyzes the adoption and financial outcomes of environmentally certified commercial real estate over time. we document that nearly 40 percent of space in the 30 largest u.s. commercial real estate markets holds some kind of environmental certification in 2014, as compared to less than 5 percent in 2005. tracking the rental growth of some 26,000 office buildings, we then measure the performance of environmentally certified real estate over time. we document that certified office buildings, on average, have slightly higher rental, occupancy and pricing levels, but do not outperform non-certified buildings in rental growth over the 2004-2013 period. further performance attribution analysis indicates that local climatic conditions, local energy prices and the extent of certification lead to significant heterogeneity in …

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