Why healthy buildings are good for the bottom line

The MIT study shows that rents increase, too, when a building is healthy for the environment and for tenants. The study used CompStak and Healthy Building public databases from Fitwel and WELL to “operationalize a real estate hedonic model in order to ascertain the value of healthy spaces on the effective rent” of offices spaces in ten cities within the United States: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC, Dr. Chegut says.

“This premium for healthy spaces is independent of all other factors, such as LEED certification, building age, renovation, lease duration, and submarket,” she says.

What’s good for tenants

The coronavirus pandemic has placed renewed focus on healthy buildings for companies and employees, with corporate decisions about where to lease space leaning toward buildings that have such credentials.

To be sure, this can mean companies simply end up looking for the most modern buildings. Nearly every Class A building built from the ground up today is being developed with the importance of health in mind, says Bruce Miller, Senior Managing Director, Office Group Leader, JLL.

“For landlords, since the concept of healthy buildings is increasingly important for attracting and retaining tenants, it will drive their behavior as well,” Miller says. “This dynamic applies to developers of new buildings as well as owners of second-generation buildings who want and need to continue to be relevant.” 

Employee health and investment returns

Healthy offices promote happiness and productivity, which in turn creates the kind of work environment and high-performance culture that companies are trying to build, Miscovich says.

“More and more studies are pointing to the idea that healthy buildings make workers more productive and happy, driving returns for the company through the efforts of those workers,” he says.