Commercial Property: it’s time to see the data.

It's time to see the data.pdf 

Published 2 May 2010 

 

Summary

 

It’s often the non-financial indicators that matter most for the success of a commercial property investment fund. That’s because things like water use, greenhouse emissions, waste recycling and occupant comfort matter to tenants. And it’s the tenants who pay the rent.

 

To effectively analyse a commercial real estate business’ medium-term prospects you need to skip past the sustainability report’s heart-warming case studies and inspiring images. You need to cut to the data and be able to make sense of it. And there’s your biggest problem – there is none. Nobody publishes any. Aggregated portfolio “results” (e.g. kgCO2/m2) mean very little because they will mask the impact of acquisitions and disposals as well as the risk of individual asset obsolescence and imminent lease expiries. Compounding this is the fact that, unlike financial results, most companies’ key sustainability metrics (even the aggregated ones) are not independently assured. Most are not even comprehensive.

 

There needs to be greater transparency and accountability in the non-financial reporting of commercial real estate businesses. Why? Because, more than ever, it matters.

 


Roussac, A.C. (2010). Show me the data, Ethical Investor, Apr/May 2010, Issue 91: 17.