Looking for a solid investment? According to an ongoing study of a national office portfolio managed by CBRE Group, with participation from the University of San Diego and McGraw-Hill Construction, green buildings generate stronger investment returns than traditional managed properties, particularly  those that have achieved LEED certification.

The third phase of a multi-year study initiated in 2009 by CBRE, the University of San Diego’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate and McGraw-Hill, shows that green buildings demonstrated  increased occupancy and rental rates in comparison with the general market. The study benchmarks and measures green building benefits and resulting economic outcomes as a framework of investment criteria for retrofitting, adding to the plethora of such measurement tools currently being developed to help commercial building owners identify cost-effective green measures for existing buildings.

image via Empire State Building

The study, which surveys around 150 CBRE-managed office buildings and more than 2,500 building occupants, reveals that green building economic performance continues to trend higher than the general market, with mid-sized markets leading the trend.

In particular, aggregated data on LEED certified buildings over the three years of the study have shown an average 3.1 percent improvement in both rental rates and building occupancy in comparison to the general market, while reducing utilities for tenants by 21 percent on average.