Occupier profile and the ESG agenda
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Citation: Dr Nan Liu, Dr Yuan Zhao, Professor Norman Hutchison, Mr Bowen Yan (2024) Occupier profile and the ESG agenda in commercial real estate.
London: Property Research Trust. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52915/DRAF4161 Keywords: Office sector, retail sector, environment, social, governance, commercial real estate, occupier profile |
Summary:
There is a gap in the existing environment, social and governance (ESG) literature in the real estate sector, where occupier characteristics with respect to ESG are overlooked. This report attempts to fill this gap by examining the profile of occupiers of commercial real estate. More specifically, it investigates the relationship between the characteristics of occupiers and sustainable building choice; evaluates the bargaining power of tenants with different ESG agendas; and examines whether there were changes in the above due to requirements of energy performance regulations and during the covid pandemic. This research focuses on the London office, retail and industrial markets and utilises lease transactions from CoStar (www.CoStar.co.uk) and occupiers’ ESG scores (including the overall score and three separate scores for each of the environment, social and governance pillars) from Refinitiv (www.refinitive. com) from 2002 to 2022. An important finding is that there are differences in the outcomes between the office sector, the retail and industrial sectors. |
Authors
Dr Nan Liu is an Associate Professor Professor at the Centre for Real Estate Research, University of Aberdeen Business School. Her research interests encompass urban studies; ESG in real estate; flexible working spaces; and tokenisation in real assets.
Dr Yuan Zhao is an Associate Professor of Real Estate Finance at the University of Reading, Henley Business School. Her research areas cover a wide range of finance and real estate subjects, including mutual friends; portfolio optimisation; behavioural finance; risk management; crypto assets; and sustainability.
Professor Norman Hutchison is a Professor of Real Estate at the Centre for Real Estate Research, University of Aberdeen Business School. His current research focuses on senior housing; mortgages; city deals; and stakeholder engagement. Professor Hutchison is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Mr Bowen Yan is a PhD candidate in real estate at the University of Aberdeen Business School. His doctoral project investigates ESG considerations in commercial real estate markets. Bowen served as a research assistant in this project.
Dr Yuan Zhao is an Associate Professor of Real Estate Finance at the University of Reading, Henley Business School. Her research areas cover a wide range of finance and real estate subjects, including mutual friends; portfolio optimisation; behavioural finance; risk management; crypto assets; and sustainability.
Professor Norman Hutchison is a Professor of Real Estate at the Centre for Real Estate Research, University of Aberdeen Business School. His current research focuses on senior housing; mortgages; city deals; and stakeholder engagement. Professor Hutchison is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Mr Bowen Yan is a PhD candidate in real estate at the University of Aberdeen Business School. His doctoral project investigates ESG considerations in commercial real estate markets. Bowen served as a research assistant in this project.