Tenant Satisfaction in Sustainable Buildings - MIT Center for Real Estate
Climate and Real Estate Multi-PI Research Cluster

Tenant Satisfaction in Sustainable Buildings

Principal Investigators: Juan Palacios (lead)
Researchers: Nils Kok
Year: 2022
Topics: Climate and Sustainable Real Estate

Doing Well by Doing Good: Tenant Satisfaction in Healthy & Green Buildings

COVID-19, work from home, and the ongoing “return to the office” discussions in many organizations have once more shown that attracting and retaining corporate tenants is a critical component of commercial real estate investment.

Beyond determining cash flows, corporate tenants also increasingly shape the characteristics of buildings, including sustainability features, amenities, etc. However, research on the preferences of corporates for different types of buildings is still rather limited.

This project is exploring the role of sustainability and health and well-being attributes for corporate tenants. We will construct a unique dataset, combining repeated tenant surveys, in thousands of buildings for ten years, with comprehensive records of health and green building certification, as well as the environmental exposure of the properties.

We will use econometric and data science methods to test the influence of healthy and green building attributes on tenant satisfaction and their likelihood of lease renewal. The results will provide novel insights to commercial real estate investors on how to engage with tenants on issues related to energy efficiency, sustainability, and health and well-being.

Our research also provides novel insights into the implications of green and healthy buildings on the operation and performance of commercial real estate assets. 

Tenant Satisfaction in Sustainable Buildings