Green Gold? A (Spatial) Analysis of Green Office Buildings in Europe

In this paper we draw upon the DTZ Research Institute database in order to analyze green certification brings a price premium for buildings in the EU. Specifically, we focus on Finland, France and Germany, countries with extensive information regarding green buildings transactions. Given that in the EU green certifications became prevalent after 2010, we restrain our sample to the 2010-2015 period. Considering the increasing demand for certification, we expect that sale prices for green buildings are higher relative to non-green buildings. We first assess if green certification has a premium in the analyzed countries. Second, we assess the effect that the location of green buildings has on the price premium. Our findings suggest that (i) buildings with green certification have a 19 percent higher price relative to non-certificated buildings and (ii) in cities of under 500 000 people, the price premium increases with the distance from the city center. We contribute to the rising literature on green buildings as the only study to assess the price impact of green certification in European countries.