What Buildings Cost 3/3: What Is Changing?

“Green” keeps losing traction. The GRESB/MIPIM Survey (2025) shows that enthusiasm for the ESG acronym is fading, while the actual work gets more attention. The World Economic Forum finds that sustainability in real estate is increasingly driven by economic logic, not political pressure (WEF, 2025).

FMI Corp, an American consulting firm for the construction industry, calls health “the next disruption in sustainable building design” (FMI Corp, 2017). The market is taking a new direction.

The global wellness real estate market reached a volume of 584 billion dollars in 2024 and is growing at 15.2 percent annually, three times faster than the general construction sector (Global Wellness Institute, 2025). By 2029, the market is expected to double to 1.1 trillion dollars. Health-certified office buildings achieve 4 to 6 percent higher rents and 14 to 16 percent higher capital values (Cambridge University / CompStak, 2025; EXPO REAL 2025).

WELL, the international standard for healthy buildings, now covers nearly 560 million square meters in 137 countries (IWBI, 2025). Barcelona has included neuroarchitecture in its official program as World Capital of Architecture (Barcelona Capital of Architecture 2026). This is long past niche.

How did this come about? To me, the difference lies in proximity to the person affected. Sustainability is an argument for the planet and for the future, and in times of political and economic crisis, it feels too long-term and abstract. Health is simply closer and less dependent on economic cycles. It affects the person who is working in the building right now. Anyone breathing stale air notices it immediately. The CO2 balance stays a number among many.

Alongside the market comes regulation. In 2024 the EU revised the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD Recast, Directive 2024/1275). For the first time, an EU directive defines Indoor Environmental Quality as a legal term. Temperature, humidity, ventilation rates and indoor air pollutants must be incorporated into national building standards. The deadline for transposition into national law is 29 May 2026. The directive is binding for the member states. No member state has yet published finalized implementation measures. Germany and Austria are working on it but are falling behind schedule.

The split in the real estate market is becoming visible. According to JLL, 78 percent of office stock in the US and Europe is affected by outdated ESG and building standards and needs to be retrofitted (JLL, 2024). In Germany, the certified office stock in the Big-7 cities is growing 21 percent annually, while the overall market stagnates (JLL CESAR, 2024). Class A buildings with certification keep finding tenants, while Class B buildings without certification increasingly sit empty.

Market and regulation are moving in the same direction on building health right now, and in my experience that means the tipping point is not far off. Buildings were the last major industry where the party causing harm did not pay for the health consequences. That is changing because the market pays health premiums and regulation prescribes health standards. That buildings affect health is settled. What matters is consistent implementation.