What is price per buildable foot in plain English?

Price per buildable foot - also commonly known as price per zoning floor area - is the sale price of a development site divided by the total square footage its zoning allows to be built - the standard way to compare land prices across sites of different sizes. For an owner, it translates a lot's zoning into a directly comparable measure of value.

How do you calculate price per buildable foot?

Divide the sale price by the buildable square footage, where buildable square footage equals the lot size multiplied by the FAR for that zoning district. A $5 million site with 25,000 buildable SF works out to $200 per buildable foot - the figure buyers use to compare offers across sites.

Why is land priced per buildable foot?

Land is priced per buildable foot because it measures what a developer is actually buying - the right to build square footage - rather than the existing structure, which they often demolish. It lets buyers compare sites of any size on equal footing, and it is the language every serious buyer prices in.

What's the price per buildable foot in my NYC neighborhood?

Price per buildable foot varies widely by neighborhood, driven by what completed projects sell or rent for in each submarket - prime Manhattan commands far more than outer-borough corridors. For an owner, local comparables are the only reliable guide to where a specific site falls.

What's the difference between price per buildable foot and price per square foot?

Price per buildable foot divides price by the square footage zoning allows to be built; price per existing square foot divides by the building already there. For development sites, buildable foot is what matters because the buyer is purchasing the right to build - using the existing-foot metric understates a development site's value.

Is price per buildable foot ever misleading?

Yes - it can mislead when the "buildable" figure assumes square footage that is not actually achievable due to setback, height, lot-coverage, or landmark constraints. A high FAR on paper does not guarantee a buildable building, so owners should price on realistically buildable area, not the theoretical maximum, or buyers will discount the gap.

How do I use price per buildable foot to figure out what my property is worth?

Multiply your lot size by its FAR to get buildable square footage, then multiply that by the price per buildable foot recent comparable sites achieved in your submarket. Because comparables drive the figure, rely on current local sales rather than citywide averages to get a realistic value range.

Why do two similar properties have different prices per buildable foot?

Two similar properties differ because of factors like a clean as-of-right site, vacant possession, lot shape, views, and frontage that lift the figure, while tenants, environmental issues, irregular lots, or zoning needing a variance lower it. These reflect a developer's cost and risk, so resolving them before listing lifts the achievable figure.

Edge case: How is the FAR affected if my property has both residential and commercial?

A property with both residential and commercial FAR is usually priced with the two components separated, because residential and commercial buildable space command different values per foot in most submarkets, and a blended figure can obscure real value. Have buildable area broken out by use so buyers price each correctly rather than discounting the whole.

Edge case: Does it lower my price per buildable foot if the FAR only works through a zoning lot merger?

Yes - if buildable square footage depends on a zoning lot merger with a neighbor, buyers discount the price per buildable foot to account for the cost, time, and uncertainty of securing that merger. Unrealized FAR is worth less than as-of-right FAR, so lining up the merger before listing can capture more of that value.