What is the value of a studio? Of course, for the artist who works there, the studio is invaluable, after all, it is one of the preconditions for making work. And for the creative city, the studio is indispensable, because creativity often germinates there. But in a city that is growing, like Rotterdam, we see something else: many studios have to compete with housing. The common opinion is that they yield more - economically than they do. But is that really the case?
What is the economic value of a studio? Together with its sister organisations from Amsterdam, Utrecht and Arnhem/Nijmegen, SKAR asked Rebel consultancy to investigate this. The outcome surprised us. In short, it pays to keep studios, even expand them, and not convert them into homes. Not only because of the social and cultural value they represent. That is certain, although it is difficult to express in monetary terms. But also because of the economic value: studios make money.
How about that? After all, you still pay more for houses than you do for studios. There's no denying that. That's the market value. But, and this is important, the market value represents only part of what a building yields. What happens in and with the building is at least as important. In addition to direct financial income, it can also generate indirect financial income. Not to mention the other revenues. The question then is, how much that is, how much the use actually yields. In the case of homes, by far the largest part of that revenue is generated in the first year, but in the case of studios it only begins then. After all, tenants of studios are not only artists but also entrepreneurs. And that is what Rebel has focused on, using a number of cases from Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht.
If you consider a period of 10 to 15 years, a lot of money is involved in a studio building. Rent, investments and maintenance, of course, but more importantly, the artists and designers also make their own turnover, as entrepreneurs. Some more than others, of course, but since Statistics Netherlands keeps track of what is earned in which sector, that is easy to do. Furthermore, De Atlas voor Gemeenten has investigated how much the value of real estate in a neighbourhood increases in addition to a studio or incubator, and so more indicators have been included.
The study shows that every euro that SKAR spends on studio buildings (on rent or property charges) triggers as much as 24 euros in other spending and increases in value. And that's a lot. In other words, there is a multiplier of 24. But that's not all. There is also an effect on employment: every two studios together provide one job. The economic value is therefore considerable, even if we ignore the cultural and social value. And then another thing. a considerable part goes to the government: that one euro will eventually yield 11 euros, in return for investment.
These structural effects are not achieved if a studio building is sold to turn it into housing. Rebel has looked into this as well. The agency took the prices that are paid for houses nowadays as a starting point. In the first year, the year of the sale, a lot of money goes over the counter for houses - no studio can compete with that. But after that it changes. And during the period of 15 years it even changes drastically. In almost all areas, a studio building provides more value.
In short, it pays to have a workshop or breeding ground nearby. It pays even more to keep it nearby. And the cultural and social added value you get.
Read here a excerpt of the research