Spatial Dependence in International Office Markets

This paper investigates spatial dependence in the prices of office buildings in Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, and Tokyo for 2007 to 2013. Compared to prior literature, we find low economic impact from spatial dependence in all six markets, and spatial and spatial-temporal dependence do not moderate the effects of hedonic characteristics statistically or economically. However, investor and seller types as well as neighborhood location have a significant impact on the economic and statistical significance of the spatial and spatial-temporal parameters. Spatial office price indices for London, Paris and Tokyo decline somewhat more than do hedonic indices during the crisis

On the Value of Environmental Certification in the Commercial Real Estate Market

A significant part of the global carbon externality stems from the real estate sector. 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% 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% in 2005. Tracking the rental growth of 26,212 office buildings, we 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 climate conditions, local energy prices and the extent of certification lead to significant heterogeneity in market pricing. On aggregate, these findings provide some evidence on the efficiency of the market in the adoption and capitalization of environmental characteristics in the commercial real estate market