This document discusses bid rent theory and its application to analyzing office space rents. It begins with an introduction to bid rent theory and how different land uses value proximity to the central business district. It then examines how travel distances impact information exchange costs for office firms. Graphs and tables show how firms can substitute capital for land by building taller buildings on smaller lots closer to the CBD where land values are highest. Case studies of office rent spatial patterns in Los Angeles and Atlanta show negatively sloped bid rent curves with rents decreasing as distance from the CBD increases.

1. BID RENT THEORY
STUDY OF BID RENT CURVES FOR OFFICE
SECTOR Presented By:
Mahak 021
Abhishek 022
Sudeep 024
Sakshi 025
Varun 026

2. Contents:
SL. NO. CONTENT
1 INTRODUCTIONTO BID RENTTHEORY:
2 STUDY OFTRAVEL DISTANCES INTERMS OF INFORMATION EXCHANGE:
3 OFFICE BID RENT CURVESWITH FACTOR SUBSTITUTION
4 PRODUCTION ISOQUANT FOR ONE HECTARE OF OFFICE SPACE
5 FACTOR SUBSTITUTION: CONVEX BID-RENT CURVE
6 OFFICE BID-RENT CURVE WITH A FIXED LOT SIZE
7 CASE STUDY: LOS ANGELES AND ATLANTA
8 REFERENCES

3. INTRODUCTIONTO BID RENTTHEORY:
• It can be seen that commerce (in particular large department
stores/chain stores) is willing to pay the greatest rent to be
located in the CBD.The CBD is very valuable for them because it
is traditionally the most accessible location for a large
population.As you move from the CBD, commerce is unwilling
to pay as much for a site. In fact, what they are willing to pay
declines rapidly.
• Industry is, however, willing to pay to be on the outskirts
of the CBD.There is more land available for their
factories, but they still have many of the benefits of the
CBD, such as a market place and good communications.
• As you move further out, so the land is less
attractive to industry and the householder is
able to purchase land.The further you go
from the CBD, the cheaper the land.

4. Location Travel dist. West Travel dist. East Total travel dist.
0 6=1+2+3 6=1+2+3 12X2=24
1 10=1+2+3+4 3=1+2 13X2=26
2 15=1+2+3+4+5 1 16X2=32
3 21=1+2+3+4+5+6 0 21X2=42
Each office firm interacts with all the other office
firms in the CBD to exchange information.The total
travel distance for information exchange is
minimized at the centre of the CBD and grows at an
increasing rate as the distance to the centre
increases.
Travel distance for firms in a CBD
STUDY OFTRAVEL DISTANCES
INTERMS OF INFORMATION
EXCHANGE:
Source: Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)

5. Assumptions:
• Each office firm uses a standard office building on same amount of
land.
• Office building at all locations are of same height.
• Office firms near the center of the city occupy tall buildings on small
lots.
Two Parameters For DecidingThe Height OfThe Building:-
0.04 0.25 1
25
4 1
250
100
50
TALL MEDIUM SHORT
LAND (Hectares) BUILDING HEIGHT (Floors) CAPITAL COST ($)
TALL MEDIUM HIGH
Land
(Hectares)
0.04 0.25 1.0
Building
Height (Floors)
25 4 1
Capital Cost
($)
250 100 50
Cost of
land
Cost of
capital
Graph representing Lot Size, Building
Height and Capital Cost.
Table representing Lot Size, Building
Height and Capital Cost.
OFFICE BID RENT CURVESWITH FACTOR SUBSTITUTION
Source: Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)
The office space can be:-
• A tall building on a small lot
• A short building on a big lot.
Inference:-
A taller building requires more capital cost
because it requires
extra reinforcement to support its more
concentrated weight.

6. Graph shows the Production isoquant for an office building
with one hectare of office space.
It shows different combinations of inputs that produce a fixed
amount of output. It shows the building options for the office
firm.
Point t represents the input combination for the tall building
Point m represents the input combinations for the medium
building.
Point s represents the input combinations for the short
building.
PRODUCTION ISOQUANT FOR ONE HECTARE OF OFFICE SPACE
Graph representing Production Isoquant for one
hectare of Office Space
Source: Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)
For Tall buildings, the Capital cost is
highest and the Lot size is smallest.
For Medium buildings, the Capital cost
lowers down.
For Short buildings, the Capital cost is
lowest and the Lot size is biggest.

7. TALL MEDIUM SHORT
Land (Hectares) 0.04 0.25 1.0
Capital ($) 250 100 50
Building Cost (Rent = $40)
Land Cost 1.6 10 40
Total Cost 251.6 110 90
Building Cost (Rent =$200)
Land Cost 8 50 200
Total Cost 258 150 250
Building Cost (Rent =$1600)
Land Cost 64 400 1600
Total Cost 314 500 1650
The building cost depends upon:-
• The prices of land
• The price of capital Table represents Lot Sizes and Cost as per Rent
FACTOR SUBSTITUTION: CHOOSING A BUILDING HEIGHT
The firm’s objective is to minimize the cost of the building, equal to the sum of land and capital cost.
Low Rent
($40)
Medium Rent
($200)
High Rent
($1600)
Total cost is minimized with a
short building ($90).
Total cost is minimized with a
medium building ($150).
Total cost is minimized with a
tall building ($314).
On an expensive land, a firm saves $186, by building a
tall building at a cost of $314 rather than a medium
building at a cost of $500.
Source: Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)
On a cheap land, a firm saves $20, by
building a short building at accost of
$90 rather than a medium building at a
cost of $110.

8. FACTOR SUBSTITUTION: CONVEX BID-RENT CURVE
As land is more expensive closer to the center, so it will be rational to occupy a taller building.
A move closer to the center increases the bid rent for land because:
1.Travel cost decreases 2. Factor substitution cuts the cost of an office building
The curve shows implications of factor substitution for office bid-rent curve. Factor
substitution increases the slope of the bid rent curve.
Dista
nce
(bloc
ks)
Building
Height
(Floors)
Total
Revenu
e
Capital
Cost of
Buildin
g
Other
Non-
land
Cost
Travel
Cost
Total
Rent
Paid
Produc
tion
Site
(Hectar
es)
Bid
Rent
per
Hectar
e
1 25 $500 $250 $150 $36 $64 0.04 $1,600
5 4 $500 $100 $150 $200 $50 0.25 $200
Graph representing the office bid-rent curve with factor substitution
Factor substitution transforms a concave bid-rent curve into a convex curve, meaning that as we approach the city
center, the price of land rises at an increasing rate.The rapidly increasing price of land in turn encourages more factor
substitution, resulting in tall office buildings close to city centers.
Suppose an office firm starts at a site five blocks from the center and then moves farther from the center. If the firm were to use a four-story
building at the more distant location, the bid for land would decrease by an amount equal to the increase in travel cost. But given the lower
price of land at a more distant location, a shorter building will be efficient, and the cost savings from factor substitution partly offset the effect
of higher travel costs. Because of factor substitution, the bid rent decreases by an amount less than the increase in travel cost.
Source: Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)

9. The figure of the bid-rent curve is negatively sloped and concave. The slope is
negative because travel cost increases with the distance to the center. The
curve is concave because as we move away from the center, travel cost
increases at an increasing rate, so rent decreases at an increasing rate.
The bid-rent curve of office firms is negatively sloped because as we move away from the
center, the cost of travel for information exchange increases. The curve is concave because
travel cost increases at an increasing rate.
$
1,000
856
400
200
1 54
Land bid rent
a
e
d
Capital($)
Land: Lot size (htr.)
OFFICE BID-RENT CURVEWITH A FIXED LOT SIZE
This is explained by the formula, which says rent per hectare is the amount of total revenue minus capital cost minus other
production cost mines travel cost, whole divided by lot size.
Rent per = total revenue – capital cost – other production cost – travel cost
Hectare Lot size (quantity of Land)
For example: if an office is in a building of four floors on ¼ hectare of land,
produces $500 worth per day, for which they need capital of $100 and other
costs of $150.
 Then the rent per hectare is $1000.
 And if travel cost is
added as $36.
Rent per hectare= $500 - $100 - $150 = $1,000
0.25
Rent per hectare= $500 - $100 - $150 - $36 = $856
0.25
Source: Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)

10. CASE STUDY: LOS ANGELESAND ATLANTA
A NUMBER OF CASE STUDIES SHOWSTHATTHE SPATIALVARIATION IN OFFICE
RENT , DEFINEDASANNUAL RENT PER SQUARE METER OF OFFICE SPACE
• Negatively Curved SlopeTells UsThatThe PriceWill
Decrease AsWe MoveToward Downtown
• Higher Rent Is DueTo Large employment sub-centres,
The HigherThe DensityThe LargerThe Effect On Office
Rent
• Airports And Freeways Also Help For Having Higher Office
Rents
Los Angeles
Atlanta
Source: Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)

11. RENT ON OFFICE SPACE: LOSANGELESAND ATLANTA
• CURVE IS RELATIVELY FLAT, SMALL NEGATIVE
SLOPE ITVARIESAS SHOWN IN MAP
• Office rent is higher for office close to highway
interchanges
• The number of nearby professional workers and
workers for industries that provide service also lead to
higher rent for sites
• Between 1990 & 1996, the southern slope became
flatter (a small negative number ), while the northern
slope became steeper(a large positive number )
Source: Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)

12. • Urban Land Economics. (Part 2- Land rent and land use patterns)
REFERENCES

13. Thank you