The Matby survey

Abstract

In order to successfully build and lease modern office buildings, it is crucial that landlords and developers find out exactly what tenants want. This is not just a matter of their drawing up a 'wish list', but also of: • asking tenants to rank those features which they consider desirable in order of importance • ascertaining whether tenants expect these desired features and facilities to be a basic part of the tenancy package or, if not, how much they are prepared to pay for them. To help gather some of this information, we sent out a questionnaire to fitout and property professionals, to major and small tenants, and to some people in unrelated areas in Auckland and Wellington. They were asked to say whether they thought specific features were desirable and then to say to what degree they would be prepared to pay extra from them, applying a number value. The results reveal differences between major and small tenants, and between tenants and fitout and property professionals, as well as geographical differences. The special needs thrown up by a tenant's particular field of involvement is also influential. Whereas some areas - such as security, access and safety- are almost universally valued, the amount a tenant is prepared to pay for them can vary greatly, and other features have widely variant support. There is also a division between structural elements and 'aesthetic' and technological features. The presence of such difference within strong overall trends confirms the necessity for developers and landlords to find out exactly what the needs are of their target markets and how much those prospective tenants are willing to pay for them.