Development of view potential metrics and the financial impact of views on office rents

Abstract Views contribute to occupants’ visual comfort and health in the workplace—reducing stress, improving concentration, and bolstering creativity. In this work, we introduce two new metrics, based on a 3D simulation in the urban context, to assess potential view access in open floorplans; and using the metrics, we measure the economic impact of views on office rents. We evaluate the view potential in 5,154 office spaces in Manhattan, New York City. Then, combining the analysis results with rent transaction data, we model the financial performance of rents paid by tenants with varying views whilst controlling for other vital factors impacting office rents. We find that spaces with high access to views have a 6% net effective rent premium over spaces with low access to views. This financial impact is independent of other value drivers like daylight. Where there is both high daylight and view access, we find, there is also a 6% effective rent premium. Tenants’ marginal willingness to pay for daylight and views is a financial incentive for developers and building owners to invest in these visual qualities. The metrics introduced in this work can be applied in design and planning to analyze view access in an existing urban context; and the financial incentive for views can motivate design and planning policies that preference and protect view access and sightlines from all buildings.