In a reversal of traditional development priorities, real estate developers discover that the biological diversity is not only good for the planet – it is good for profits.
Research for the initiative for natural base (NBC) shows considerable price premiums and accelerated sales for real estate that has been dominated in the founding room, which questions the concrete glass paradigm, which has been dominated for decades.
Speak at a developer round table organized by the organized by The urban developer In collaboration with Hawton, Paul Hamister said that there was “a significant premium for residential real estate with high distribution of tires trees or green spaces”.
Hamister founded NBC in 2022, after seeing how conventional projects on the market exceeded nature.
The initiative takes place when UN research shows that more than two thirds of humanity live in urban environments by 2050, which may grow up without sensible connections to nature.
Population projections show that apartment growth in regions in the city center continues, whereby the growth rates in these areas either match or exceed the outer regions.
This trend causes internal urban areas to drive the need to compress housing and at the same time increase the attraction and the value of life near park and open rooms.
The combination of limited green areas and growing population groups means that the value of existing green areas continues to increase, in particular as a flexible working agreements and the focus on the well -being of well -being according to developments that offer comfort, closeness and connectivity with nature.
In contrast to conventional sustainability framework, which focus on energy efficiency and carbon reduction, NBC lives landscapes at the center of development philosophy.
Studies commissioned by NBC and carried out by the University of Melbourne and Urbis show the concrete commercial advantages of the natural -based design.
The study by the University of Melbourne identifies the decisive role of urban green spaces in the creation of sustainable, livable cities.
Such a project in Barangaroo, Sydney, a container terminal, was converted into a mixed use with native vegetation, green roofs and water -positive systems, whereby the carbon neutrality reaches and the local economy revitalizes.
Real estate with a higher Green space proximity, consistently higher prices, faster sales and better rental growth in existing and new developments showed NBC/Urbis research.
A detailed analysis of almost 500 park-fronting real estate shipping showed that these properties achieved capital growth of 0.7 percentage points than the surrounding market average, with some locations reaching impressive growth rates of up to 16 percent per year.
On average, houses that were exposed to parks were 28 percent for units and 19 percent for houses over a period of three years, with 38 percent of a long -term performance of 38 percent and 20 percent strengthened over 10 years.
This research provided developers a solid business case to increase their investments in natural elements, said Hamister.
The NBC framework includes a Scorecard system that was developed in cooperation with the landscape architecture company tract.
The system evaluates the developments in 10 criteria, including views and location planning, private and municipal open spaces, reservations of existing trees, roofing, biodiversity, ecology, planted area and vertical green.
Projects can achieve recommended, excellent or exemplary levels of certification, whereby marketing security is available on the market to differentiate and promote developments.
One of the most important, perhaps most disturbing findings from the industry analysis of NBC is that none of the ESD evaluation tools (Environmental Sustainable Design) prescribe in Australia -living landscape elements.
This means that development can achieve the highest sustainability ratings and at the same time contain no natural elements – a gap that the NBC platform appeals directly.
The organization has campaigned for changes in the evaluation systems, with some progress being made in the detection of metrics of biodiversity.
Real World applications are already demonstrating the promise of value.
The development of Hamister in Mooneee Valley Park, which created a 16 -ha -botanical park before building buildings, achieved 10 apartments a month for two years.
Other developers report that apartments with internal gardens-traditionally sell as difficult to sell-now faster, which indicates a shift in buyer preferences compared to natural living rooms.
It is a significant shift in historical assumptions that internal apartments are less desirable.
The Milieu Senior Development Manager (BTR) Jesse Legge is such a supporter. Legge told The urban developer These “apartments, of which we actually thought they were most difficult to sell the plan, are first sold”.
“They are apartments that stand up internally but stand in the gardens,” says Legge.
NBC studies on Infill master plan locations in Australia continue to validate the LEGGE report, with Melbourne 'Green' developments of up to 34 percent, rental premiums of up to 23 percent and capital growth rates of up to 15 percent per year.
New South Wales projects have even greater results, with the price premiums 32 percent, the rental premiums reached 65 percent and capital growth rates of up to 30 percent per year.
International examples show similar patterns, with the London Elefant Park recording a price premium of 89 percent for apartments with two bedrooms compared to the surrounding areas.
The commercial office sector also experiences advantages, says Salta Property Group Senior Development Manager – Commercial Office Development Adam Diclement.
It reports premium rents by up to 36 percent higher for rooms with access to high -quality green areas – if they are at floor level, balconies or roofs.
The NBC found that the value of the inclusion of nature extends beyond the applications of residential transactions to commercial properties, whereby the well -being and productivity gains of the tenant achieve additional return on capital.
The challenge of pressing the biological diversity into ever dense urban environments has led to more developers of compact locations and strenuously exhausted innovative ways of certification.
The NBC team says that the scorecard system is flexible and several ways to certify that does not necessarily require extensive plantings at ground level. This includes vertical gardens, green roofs and innovative integration of nature in building structures.
With the introduction of the task force with regard to nature -related financial disclosures (TNFD), banks and lender will soon work within a transformed regulatory landscape.
The TNFD has developed disclosure recommendations and guidelines that “encourage companies and finances and enable their nature -related dependencies, effects, risks and opportunities to be evaluated, report and act”.
This framework is aimed at leading the global financial rivers of negative results in the direction of natural investments, which are created with the global framework of the biological diversity-and a financial ecosystem in which the biological diversity can be bank bar.
Ideally, this regulatory shift can also promote environmentally friendly loan products that could provide preference financing conditions for NBC-certified developments, says Hamister.
At least the discussions with the authorities are underway on how the NBC certification in planning systems can be recognized, which means that some advice from the council or the tightening of approval processes can be compensated for exemplary natural-based designs.
The aim of the United Nations for increasing urban green areas is becoming increasingly urgent. As the awareness of climate and biodiversity crises, the initiative for natural base is growing as a practical framework for developers in order to make a meaningful contribution and at the same time to record an undeveloped market value.
“We have found that there is an important premium for residential properties in existing houses and new houses,” says Hamister.
“Capital growth has a bonus. There is a bonus for rental growth. It is basically a comprehensive commercial return for over -fighting in nature.”