LEED-certified offices earn higher rents than non-sustainable properties

LEED-certified buildings consistently earn higher rents than non-LEED properties, according to new research from Cushman & Wakefield.

Since 2015, rents for LEED-certified buildings have averaged 11% higher than those of non-LEED properties. The research also indicates that newly delivered LEED buildings were more resilient during times when the real estate market softened.

Since 2018, vacancies in LEED properties have fallen sharply. Even prior to the pandemic, LEED vacancy fell below that of non-LEED properties.

Cushman forecasts that by 2023, about 80% of investors intend to incorporate ESG into their commercial real estate strategy. A potential drag on that trend is that achieving ESG milestones through LEED is typically is more expensive than other strategies. To date, LEED certified buildings account for just 2.5% of total urban office properties in the U.S.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.