Commercial Real Estate Market Opportunity: The Greening Market

In a softening commercial real estate market, an opportunity exists for investors interested in building or retrofitting commercial property to energy efficient standards. Where opportunity exists for investors, it also exists for real estate agents specializing in the commercial real estate market.

The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2007 that “Overall, the number of U.S. buildings certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s elite Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard stands at 6,000 and is forecast to top 100,000 over the next four years.” Besides energy efficiency, large corporations are also including sustainability factors in their commercial property retrofitting, such as using recycled materials.

Citigroup Inc., which has 92 million square feet in its real estate portfolio, is in the process of going green with its commercial real estate. Citigroup had energy audits conducted on its property and has adopted various power-saving measures. Also in the works is the redesign of Citigroup’s bank branches to allow in more daylight and use more recycled materials. Kaiser Permanente, twenty seven new and existing hospitals in its real estate inventory is also embarking on a plan to green their buildings.

Howard Liggett, President of Distressed Real Estate Consulting Services, recently wrote “The [LEED] designations are conferred by the US Green Building Council and the labeling of a commercial office or professional building as LEED certified has created a new value-added marketability for the leasing agent. Simply put, LEED certified buildings are attracting greater numbers of tenants.” Part of the draw of LEED buildings is the greater amount of natural lighting and better air quality.

The Urban Land Institute foresees that the “income-generating industrial and apartment sectors remain favored investment categories.” Part of the market push behind the apartment sectors is that experts figure demand for rental housing will go up due to the tightening residential mortgage market.

By marketing to the commercial real estate trends on their real estate website, Realtors who specialize in the commercial markets can increase their presence on the search engines. Buying and leasing trends translate into the specific keywords which buyers and investors are using to find commercial property. Web pages and blog entries covering the market trends in buying and leasing of commercial property in your area boost your real estate website’s visibility. Position part of your website’s marketing to capture the greening of commercial real estate.

About IMCD Website Design

IMCD’s website designs readily assists clients to gain footage in the race to the top of search engine marketing. Since 1996, IMCD has been creating award-winning, successful websites for professionals from many business fields.

Our award-winning web designer brings a 30-year background in photography and design to our clients. His resume includes work with Fortune 100 & 500 companies in Los Angeles and New York.

For more information about how our web design and development company can help your business, call IMCD at 1-877-999-4623.