Water damage is a common pain in commercial real estate that can be enormous in its effects and costs. It is the leading cause of claims in frequency and dollar value, constituting 47% of all insurance claims, according to a new report from Aon Canada's Real Estate Practice.

But the point of the report was more than tallying losses. It was a study of the benefits that leak detection can offer. The examination was based on five years of data from a large Canadian real estate corporation's portfolio of assets and insurance claims history. The portfolio comprised multifamily, office, retail, and industrial property types.

"Aon analyzed the effectiveness of implementing intelligent water prevention technology in eliminating or minimizing water-related damages, by specifically analyzing the financial impact of both leak detection systems and water flow management devices," the firm said. Although there are several vendors of such systems, the firm looked only at two products from a single vendor: Eddy H2O Sensor, which detects leaks, and Eddy Link & Shutoff Valve, which can control and stop the flow of water.