Real options analysis, a method for valuing lease flexibility,is widely practiced in the UK, according to Eric H. Bowles,CoreNet's director of global research and author of the study. Hetells GlobeSt.com that eight out of 10 property owners in the UKuse a software program that provides real options analysis, but nosuch software tool exists in the US.

"Property owners are comfortable with floating rates in thefinancial aspects of their businesses," Bowles says. "When leaserates, or portions of a lease that are subject to a tenant'santicipated need for flexibility, float according to market rates,the owner would always be at market rate."

The study is based on a March survey of 48 members of theresearch center's "expert survey panel, 92% of whom represent theend-user perspective," Bowles says. In the survey, 93% said theywould pay for lease flexibility and 92% anticipated that the levelof flexibility their companies require would increase by 2010. Theyperceived the landlord as the greatest barrier to flexibility "andmany also acknowledged that the broker may be at the heart of theresistance."