What Buildings Cost 3/3: What's Changing?

“Green” is losing traction. Not the cause itself but the label. At the major industry events for sustainable investing, participants observe that enthusiasm for the acronym ESG is fading while the substantive work gets more attention (GRESB/MIPIM Survey, 2025). The World Economic Forum notes that sustainability in real estate is increasingly driven by economic logic rather than political pressure (WEF, 2025).

What is replacing it is more concrete. FMI Corp, an American consulting firm for the construction industry, calls health “the next disruption in sustainable building design” (FMI Corp).

The market is already responding. 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).

WELL, the international standard for healthy buildings, now covers nearly 560 million square meters in 137 countries (IWBI). Barcelona as the World Capital of Architecture 2026 has included neuroarchitecture in its official program. These are no longer niche initiatives.

The reason health is gaining ground where sustainability has stalled is simple. Sustainability is an argument about the planet and the future. Health concerns the person working in the building right now. You can feel bad air. You can’t feel a bad carbon footprint.

In parallel with the market comes regulation. The EU revised the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in 2024 (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 pollutants must be incorporated into national building standards. The deadline for transposition into national law: May 29, 2026. This is not a voluntary recommendation but binding law. No member state has published finalized transposition measures yet. Germany and Austria are working on it but are behind schedule.

The split in the real estate market is becoming visible. 70 percent of the US office stock faces revaluation due to outdated health and environmental standards according to JLL. In Germany the certified office stock in the Big 7 cities is growing at 21 percent annually while the overall market stagnates (JLL CESAR, 2024). Class A buildings with certification continue to find tenants while Class B buildings without certification are increasingly standing empty.

Market and regulation are moving in the same direction on building health, and in my experience that means the tipping point is not far off. Buildings were the last major industry where the polluter did not pay for the health consequences. That is changing, not because someone is demanding it on moral grounds but because the market pays health premiums and regulation mandates health standards. The question is no longer whether buildings will be treated as a health factor but who will be first to use the available evidence.