Two brokers in Douglas Elliman’s downtown office are pushing for a new way to measure property- by volume rather than square footage.
Leonard Steinberg and Herve Senequier, who specialize in selling lofts, say that measuring space according to its “cubic factor”, or cubic footage, provides a more accurate value of an apartment’s worth.
“So many buyers and sellers talk about dollars per square foot when evaluating properties,” said Steinberg, who is a vice president at Elliman. “We think it is as important to consider the value of cubic footage. We started looking at it because we felt there was a void.”
Steinberg said that the “emotional and physical value” of taller ceilings has a “tremendous value” to many people.
“In many cases, we feel that the value of lofts has not been fully realized,” by measuring by square footage, Steinberg said.
Compare a 2,000 square foot apartment with 8.5 foot ceilings with an identical sized apartment with 11 foot ceilings, he said. The apartment with the higher ceiling has nearly 1/3 more volume than the apartment with the lower ceiling, said Senequier.
The idea hasn’t caught on yet, however.
“We’re not seeing it as a trend,” said Jonathan J. Miller, President and Co-founder of Miller Samuel, the real estate appraisers and consultants. “The idea has been thrown around a little bit.”
“It’s a novel idea,” he said. “The problem is that no one does it, and it’s not widely presented so you don’t have anything to compare the data with.”
“There something to it, because it’s purely bringing into play the ceiling height,” he said. “But as far as a viable market tool, the data just isn’t out there yet.”
Joan Marlow, who is on the board of directors for the metropolitan New York chapter of the Appraisal Institute and runs her own appraisal firm, agrees.
“The rationale behind it is very reasonable,” she said. But given the fact that there is often confusion over measuring in square feet-sometimes measurements are made in gross square footage and sometimes net square footage-“it would just add confusion at this point.”
Chris Wilson, Director of Developmentfor Stribling & Associates TriBeCa, said it was the first he’d heard of the idea.
“It’s hard enough getting a consensus in term of square footage,” he said.
But Steinberg and Senequier, who are also partners, note that there are precedents for using cubic footage in the way the city measures property. All land in New York is zoned in a manner that determines how high a building can build (the FAR, or floor-area-ratio), and how much total square footage is allowable based on the size of the lot and its location.
“In every big city, space matters now,” Steinberg said. “Greenwich Village, for example, is for the most part landmarked and has severe height restrictions. Height becomes something that is not unlimited and should be valued as such,” he said.
In loft buildings, he noted, people take advantage of large amounts of space by “building mezzanine levels and creating extra level space,” which should be adequately valued.
Steinberg said that, overall, Americans are moving in the direction of favoring residences with “open-plan kitchens and fewer, larger, more spacious rooms.”
Steinberg said he came up with the idea for cubic footage when he was buying a station wagon-he was deciding between a VW Passat and a Mercedes E Class-and trying to figure out how much volume each had.
“It was totally an ‘a-ha’ moment,” he said.
Not only do Senequier and Steinberg sell lofts-they live in one, too.
“We live in a loft with tall ceilings,” said Steinberg. “Although the apartment measures under 2,000 square feet, the sense of spaciousness is really quite remarkable.”
“The dramatic impact is wonderful, and with large trees, cascading silk drapes and a ‘mini-mansion’, element,” he said. “We would be unable to afford this quality of life outside of the loft arena.”