Office Rent in the Chicago CBD

This study focuses on the Chicago CBD office market, an important market at the local, regional, national and international levels. The purpose of this study is to develop a hedonic regression model that explains the variation in office rent per square foot. Five functional forms (linear, reciprocal, logarithmic, semi-log and log-linear) of the model are considered. A generally log-linear model is determined to be the best model based on a series of Box-Cox/Box-Tidwell type transformations and likelihood ratio tests. The regression results reveal that the model has very high explanatory power. The methodology of this study differs substantially from that of previous studies on this topic. Perhaps most importantly, the unit of analysis is the office unit rather than the building. This choice suggested the use of specific lease terms for actual transactions and location of the unit within the building as new variables. Finally, the modeling of location of the building within the CBD was found to be a critical step.     

Office Rent Determinants in the Chicago Area

This paper analyzes 1990 office asking rents in the Chicago metropolitan area. It carefully specifies a measure of the present value of a lease, taking account of important properties of rent offers. This present value is the dependent variable in the statistical analysis. The sample data analyzed pertain to 543 offices that contain about 80% of the office space in the metropolitan area. The present value of asking rents is related to many building characteristics and to each building's location. The analysis demonstrates that asking rents depend on about fifteen characteristics of the building and on a careful specification of its location.     

Sessions Planned for the Industrial Organization Society at the ASSA Meetings,at Chicago,January 3–5, 1998

Review of Industrial Organization -