Singapore, 4 March 2008 – Corporations in Asia Pacific are more pragmatic than those in the rest of the world about the costs of attaining sustainable real estate. 12 percent of corporations in Asia Pacific versus only three per cent of companies across North America and EMEA are willing to pay double digit premiums to meet their sustainable real estate needs.
In addition, 47 per cent of polled companies in Asia Pacific indicated that sustainability was already a critical issue for them, driven mainly by the pressure of significant increases in energy costs.
Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL), a leading real estate service provider and CoreNet Global, an international association of workplace and corporate real estate executives queried more than 400 occupiers of corporate real estate during CoreNet Global Summits on four continents in 2007. Together, they learned that a large majority of companies around the world view sustainability as critical to their business and are willing to pay a premium to help their companies become more sustainable. The report summarizing the global findings, entitled ‘Global Trends in Sustainable Real Estate: An Occupier’s Perspective’, was released and presented at the CoreNet Global Summit in Mumbai today.
Four hundred and fourteen industry professionals at CoreNet Global Summits in London, Melbourne, Denver and Singapore took the watershed survey. Over 2,300 were queried for an 18 per cent response rate.
CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle found that, for an overwhelming 69 per cent of respondents across Asia Pacific, sustainability is a near-term business issue that’s important today, or will be in the next 1-2 years. Globally the figure stands at 73 per cent, which reveals that, Asia, despite being predominantly a group of mainly developing countries, doesn’t lag far behind developed nation’s real estate priorities. In fact 79 per cent of respondents in Asia Pacific saw sustainability as representing an opportunity with just over 50 per cent seeing the opportunity as a major one.
However, even though there is demand and companies are willing to pay premium prices, globally supply remains patchy and in some cases is seen as non-existent.
- Only 16 per cent said that there is good, or widely available, sustainable real estate solutions in markets where their companies need to locate offices
- 38 per cent reported patchiness and said the supply chain is good in some markets but not others
- 46 per cent view overall availability as limited or minimal
The results across the Asia Pacific region were similar with only 13 per cent seeing the supply of sustainable real estate as good and 49 per cent as limited, minimal or none at all being available.
The National Director of Sustainability & Engineering Services at Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr Chris Wallbank, sees these findings as supporting what Jones Lang LaSalle are hearing from clients in Asia. “More and more companies are recognizing the business case for sustainability but are finding that the options available do not meet demand. Asia, which has a higher level of new developments, has a significant opportunity to cater to these requirements.”
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Energy and Sustainability Services division has been formed globally, bringing together existing environmental capabilities in areas such as strategy development, sustainable building development and energy efficient building operations to drive sustainability outcomes for clients.
“Our corporate occupier and investor clients are increasingly focused on the energy efficiency and sustainability of their real estate, and managing over 45 million sqm of property in the Asia Pacific region on behalf of owners and occupiers puts Jones Lang LaSalle in a strong position to make a real impact in this area,” says Wallbank.