Glossary

Plain-language definitions of the terms, acronyms, and metrics used throughout Harborwright reports and dashboards. Terms are grouped by category and alphabetized within each group.

Jump to category
Data Quality and Statistics · Geography · Demand and Market Analysis · Public Data Sources · Industries and Classifications · Investment and Finance · Development and Entitlements · Leasing and Operations · Incentives and Public Finance

Data Quality and Statistics

Cadence
How often a source is refreshed — annual, quarterly, monthly, or on-demand.
Confidence Interval (CI)
The range within which the true value is expected to fall at a stated probability. Harborwright reports at 90% CI to match federal statistical agency practice.
MOE (Margin of Error)
The plus-or-minus range around an estimate. Harborwright uses the Census ACS convention of a 90% confidence interval (z = 1.645). Any metric whose relative MOE exceeds 30% is flagged as statistically unreliable.
Relative MOE
MOE divided by the estimate. A relative MOE of 0.30 (30%) or higher triggers a reliability warning on the underlying metric.
Three-Source Validation
Harborwright’s internal rule that any headline claim (population, jobs, permits, rents, prices) must be corroborated by at least one additional independent source before it appears in a report.
Primary — Official Agency Data
Published directly by a U.S. federal statistical agency (Census, BLS, BEA, HUD, FHWA, BTS, EIA, USDA, FEMA). Used as the primary source for every headline metric.
Supporting — Licensed and Proprietary
Data that re-packages or models on top of Primary inputs, plus Harborwright’s own proprietary research. Always cited with a vintage.
Reference — Trade / Research
Industry trade groups, academic research, and broker reports. Used only as corroboration — never as the sole source of a conclusion.
Tier 4 — Unverifiable
Blogs, press releases, and other sources with no disclosed methodology. Harborwright reports never cite Tier 4.
Vintage
The reference year (and, where relevant, month or quarter) of a dataset. Every Harborwright metric ships with its vintage so readers can judge freshness.
↑ Back to top

Geography

CBSA (Core-Based Statistical Area)
The federal definition of a metro or micropolitan area, anchored by an urban core and linked counties.
Drive-Time Polygon
A trade-area boundary drawn from actual road-network travel time (5, 10, 15, 30 minutes) rather than a simple radius ring.
FIPS Code
Federal Information Processing Standard geographic identifier. 2 digits for state, 5 for county, 11 for census tract, 12 for block group.
Labor Shed
The geography from which an employer draws its workforce, typically a 20–30 minute commute for office and 30–60 minutes for industrial.
Trade Area
The geographic zone from which a site draws the majority of its customers, workers, or residents. Delineated by drive time, gravity models, or observed customer origin, not by political boundaries.
↑ Back to top

Demand and Market Analysis

Absorption
The rate at which available space is leased, sold, or occupied over a defined period.
Capture Rate
The share of trade-area demand a subject property can reasonably absorb. Retail capture above 25% of trade-area demand is a red flag.
Competitive Survey
A catalog of existing competing properties — rents, occupancy, vintage, amenities — used to benchmark the subject.
Cost-Burdened Household
A household paying more than 30% of gross income on housing. Severely cost-burdened: more than 50%.
Demand Analysis
Quantifying who needs the space — households, jobs, shoppers, or freight.
Effective Demand
Population or households with both the desire and the ability to pay for a product. Filtered from total demand by income qualification, demographic fit, and location preference.
Gap Analysis
Reconciling demand against supply to identify shortage or surplus.
Income Qualification Rate
The share of households whose income is sufficient to afford the subject product (typically rent ≤ 30% of gross income, or home price ≤ 3× annual income).
Market Area
The trade area boundary relevant to the property’s product type and scale.
Property Productivity
What the physical site is capable of supporting (access, visibility, zoning, utilities, parking).
Qualified Demand
Effective demand further filtered by product price point and lifestyle match.
Supply Analysis
Inventorying existing and pipeline competitive space.
Supportable Space
The square footage or unit count the market can absorb given the demand-supply gap.
↑ Back to top

Public Data Sources

AADT (Annual Average Daily Traffic)
Average number of vehicles passing a point on a road on a typical day.
ACS (American Community Survey)
Census Bureau rolling survey. Harborwright uses the 5-Year file for stable small-area estimates (tract and block group) and the 1-Year file for timely metro-level reads.
BEA Regional
Bureau of Economic Analysis personal income, per-capita income, and GDP by industry for counties and metros.
BPS (Building Permits Survey)
Census monthly residential building permits by unit count (1, 2, 3–4, 5+) for counties and places.
CBP (County Business Patterns)
Census annual count of establishments, employment, and payroll by NAICS, down to ZIP code.
CHAS (Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy)
HUD tabulation of ACS with income, tenure, and cost-burden crosses. The authoritative source for cost-burdened household counts.
EIA (Energy Information Administration)
Generator inventory and monthly generation data, used for power availability and data-center / manufacturing siting.
FAF5 (Freight Analysis Framework)
BTS/FHWA origin-destination flows for tons, value, and ton-miles by commodity between FAF regions.
FMR (Fair Market Rent)
HUD annual 40th-percentile gross rent by unit size and county, used as a benchmark for rent reasonableness.
HPMS (Highway Performance Monitoring System)
FHWA network of Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) and truck AADT on principal highways.
LAUS (Local Area Unemployment Statistics)
BLS monthly unemployment rate, labor force, and employment for states, metros, and counties.
LEHD LODES
Census origin-destination, workplace-area, and residence-area employment data used to build commute flows and labor sheds.
NFHL (National Flood Hazard Layer)
FEMA authoritative flood-zone data (100-year and 500-year floodplains).
NTAD (National Transportation Atlas Database)
BTS spatial layers — intermodal facilities, ports, airports, railroads, and the National Highway System.
PEP (Population Estimates Program)
Census Bureau annual vintage population estimates for states, counties, and metros. More current than ACS for totals but with fewer breakdowns.
QCEW (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)
BLS quarterly count of every UI-covered job — roughly 95% of all U.S. employment — with NAICS industry detail and county-level wage data.
USDA NASS Cold Storage
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service monthly cold-storage capacity by state — a key input for refrigerated-warehouse demand.
↑ Back to top

Industries and Classifications

NAICS (North American Industry Classification System)
The federal industry taxonomy used by Census CBP, BLS QCEW, and BEA. Harborwright rolls up to 2-digit sectors for most summaries.
↑ Back to top

Investment and Finance

Cap Rate (Capitalization Rate)
NOI divided by property value or purchase price, expressed as a percentage. The headline yield measure for income-producing real estate. Lower cap rates imply higher prices and lower risk (or lower growth) expectations.
Cash-on-Cash Return
Pre-tax annual cash flow after debt service divided by equity invested. Measures current yield to the equity position, ignoring appreciation and tax effects.
Debt Yield
NOI divided by loan amount. A lender’s stress-independent cushion: unaffected by cap rate or interest-rate assumptions. CMBS lenders typically target 8–10%.
Development Spread
Yield on cost minus the market exit cap rate. The reward for taking development risk.
DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio)
NOI divided by annual debt service. Most commercial lenders require a minimum DSCR of 1.20–1.35× at stabilization.
Effective Gross Income (EGI)
Potential gross rental income minus vacancy and credit loss, plus other income (parking, fees, laundry).
Equity Multiple
Total cash distributions divided by total equity invested over the life of the investment. Complements IRR by showing absolute magnitude.
Exit Cap Rate
The cap rate assumed at sale in a hold-period pro forma. Underwriters typically set exit cap 25–50 basis points above going-in to stress-test residual value.
Going-In Cap Rate
Cap rate calculated on Year 1 NOI at acquisition.
GP / LP (General / Limited Partner)
The sponsor (GP) who finds, finances, and operates the deal, and the passive equity investors (LPs) who provide the majority of the capital.
IRR (Internal Rate of Return)
The annualized discount rate that sets the net present value of all project cash flows to zero. The primary time-weighted return metric for real-estate equity.
LTC (Loan-to-Cost)
Construction loan principal divided by total project cost. Typically the binding constraint for ground-up development lending.
LTV (Loan-to-Value)
Loan principal divided by appraised value. Standard acquisition LTVs run 60–75% for core, 70–80% for value-add, and 60–70% for construction (measured as loan-to-cost).
NOI (Net Operating Income)
Effective gross income minus operating expenses, before debt service, income tax, depreciation, and capital expenditures. The foundation of real-estate valuation.
Preferred Return (Pref)
A contractual hurdle rate (commonly 7–9%) that limited partners must receive before the general partner earns any promote.
Pro Forma
The projected operating statement and cash-flow schedule for a property over a defined hold period, used to size debt, model returns, and test assumptions.
Promote (Carried Interest)
The disproportionate share of profits the general partner earns above agreed hurdle rates. Often structured in tiers — e.g., 20% above an 8% pref, 30% above a 15% IRR.
Residual Value
The projected sale price of a property at the end of the hold period, typically computed as exit-year NOI divided by exit cap rate.
Stabilized Value
Property value at the point where occupancy, rents, and expenses reflect a normalized long-term operating level. Used as the residual in development pro formas.
Waterfall
The contractual sequence by which project cash flows are distributed between LPs and the GP, typically proceeding through return of capital, preferred return, catch-up, and promote tiers.
Yield on Cost (YOC)
Stabilized NOI divided by total project cost, including land, hard costs, soft costs, and financing. A development spread of 100–150 basis points above market cap rate is a common underwriting minimum.
↑ Back to top

Development and Entitlements

ALTA Survey
A boundary and improvements survey prepared to American Land Title Association standards, used for acquisition and construction financing.
As-of-Right
A development that complies with existing zoning and can proceed without discretionary approvals. The lowest-risk entitlement path.
Certificate of Occupancy (CO)
The document a municipality issues when a finished building is legally cleared for tenant occupancy. The milestone that typically triggers permanent financing.
Contingency
A line-item reserve (typically 5–10% of hard costs) to cover unforeseen conditions during construction.
Density
Units or square feet permitted per acre. Often the binding constraint on multifamily and subdivision yield.
Easement
A recorded right for a third party (utility, access, conservation) to use a portion of a property.
Entitlements
The bundle of legal approvals — zoning, site plan, platting, permits — that give an owner the right to build a specific project on a specific site.
FAR (Floor Area Ratio)
Total building floor area divided by lot area. A FAR of 2.0 on a 10,000 SF lot permits 20,000 SF of building, distributed however the other zoning rules allow.
Hard Costs
Construction costs for physical work — site work, shell, interiors, mechanical, electrical, plumbing. Typically 70–80% of total project cost.
Impact Fees
One-time fees imposed by local government to fund the public infrastructure burden of new development — schools, roads, parks, water, sewer.
Lease-Up
The period between certificate of occupancy and stabilized occupancy, during which the operator is signing the first round of leases.
Phase I ESA (Environmental Site Assessment)
A non-invasive review of historical property records and a site walk to identify recognized environmental conditions. A standard due-diligence and lender requirement.
Phase II ESA
Invasive sampling (soil, groundwater, vapor) triggered when Phase I identifies potential contamination.
Platting / Subdivision
The legal process of dividing a parent parcel into individually saleable lots with recorded boundaries, easements, and rights-of-way.
Pro Forma Rent
The achievable market rent used in underwriting, typically benchmarked against a curated set of comparable properties.
Setback
The minimum distance a building must be placed from a property line.
Site Plan Approval
Municipal review of a project’s layout, circulation, stormwater, landscaping, and utility connections before building permits are issued.
Soft Costs
Non-construction costs: architecture and engineering, permits, legal, financing, insurance, developer fee, marketing, contingency.
Stabilization
The point at which a new property reaches its underwritten long-term occupancy (commonly 90–95%) and operating expenses normalize.
Title
The legal ownership record for a property. A title commitment discloses easements, liens, covenants, and defects that could affect value or development rights.
Variance
A discretionary approval that allows a property owner to deviate from specific zoning requirements (setbacks, height, use) because of a demonstrated hardship.
Zoning
The municipal regulation of permitted uses, density, bulk, setbacks, and height for each parcel. The single most important non-market constraint on development.
↑ Back to top

Leasing and Operations

Base Rent
Contractual rent before expense pass-throughs or concessions.
Cap Ex (Capital Expenditures)
Investments in the property that extend useful life or enhance value — roof, HVAC, repositioning, common-area upgrades — as distinguished from routine operating expenses.
Concessions
Inducements offered to a tenant to sign — free rent, TI allowance, moving allowance, or reduced escalations.
Economic vs Physical Occupancy
Physical occupancy counts space that is leased; economic occupancy counts space that is paying rent. The gap reflects free-rent periods and delinquency.
Effective Rent
Base rent adjusted for free rent, tenant improvement allowances, and other concessions, expressed as an annualized figure over the lease term.
Escalations
Annual rent increases built into a lease, either fixed (2–3%), CPI-indexed, or stepped.
Gross Lease
A lease where the landlord pays all operating expenses out of the rent collected. More common in office.
Leasing Commission (LC)
The brokerage fee paid on a signed lease, commonly 3–6% of total lease consideration.
Load Factor
Rentable square feet divided by usable square feet. A 15% load factor is common in multi-tenant office.
Modified Gross Lease
A hybrid where the landlord covers some expenses (typically taxes and insurance) and the tenant covers others (typically utilities and in-suite janitorial).
NNN (Triple Net) Lease
A lease where the tenant pays base rent plus its pro-rata share of property taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance. Standard for single-tenant retail and industrial.
Occupancy Rate
Leased square feet (or units) divided by total rentable square feet.
Recoveries / Pass-Throughs
Operating expenses charged back to tenants under a net or modified-gross lease.
Rent Roll
The tenant-by-tenant schedule of leased space, rent, expirations, options, and escalations. The central operating document for any income-producing property.
Rentable vs Usable Square Feet
Rentable SF includes a pro-rata share of common areas (lobbies, corridors, restrooms); usable SF is the space actually occupied by the tenant.
TI Allowance (Tenant Improvement)
Landlord-funded build-out dollars, typically expressed in dollars per rentable square foot. Market TI varies widely by product and market condition.
↑ Back to top

Incentives and Public Finance

Enterprise Zone
A state-designated geography where businesses receive tax credits, regulatory relief, or hiring incentives.
Historic Tax Credit (HTC)
A federal 20% credit for the certified rehabilitation of income-producing historic buildings. Often paired with state historic credits.
LIHTC (Low-Income Housing Tax Credit)
A federal tax credit administered by state housing agencies that finances the majority of affordable rental housing built in the United States. Allocations are competitive and scored against a state’s Qualified Allocation Plan.
New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)
A federal credit for qualified investments in low-income communities, typically deployed through Community Development Entities.
Opportunity Zone
A federally designated low-income census tract where eligible capital gains reinvested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund receive deferred and partially forgiven tax treatment.
PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes)
A negotiated fixed payment that replaces some or all of the standard property-tax obligation for a defined term, typically on a redevelopment or public-partnership project.
Tax Abatement
A time-limited reduction or elimination of property taxes used by municipalities to incentivize new construction or rehabilitation.
TIF (Tax Increment Financing)
A local-government tool that captures the incremental property-tax revenue generated by new development and dedicates it to infrastructure, land assembly, or direct project subsidy.
↑ Back to top

Related: Methodology · Data Sources

Request a Demo

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Stay informed with the latest market intelligence, economic insights, and industry analysis.

Subscribe

Services

Company

Outlook

Resources

Already a Harborwright Client?

Log in to access your research and interactive dashboards.

Client Login
Follow Us
© 2026 Harborwright. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Patent-Pending — Harborwright\u2019s analytical methods are subject to a pending U.S. patent application (U.S. Application 64/057,347, filed May 5, 2026).
Subscribe Client Portal

Services

About Harborwright

Resources