Price per square foot calculator.
Divide price by size to get $/SF — then see how it stacks up against real South Florida sale medians by county and asset type, pulled from tri-county recorded sales. Most calculators start blank; this one starts with the market.
Why the benchmark matters
Price per square foot is the great equalizer for comparing commercial properties of different sizes: total price divided by building square footage. On its own it means little — the power is in the benchmark. This tool measures your number against median sale prices from recorded South Florida arms-length sales, by county and by asset type, so you can instantly see whether a listing is priced above or below the market.
Example. An 8,000-square-foot building listed at $2,300,000 works out to $288 per square foot. In Broward County, where the commercial median is about $340 per square foot, that is roughly 15% below market — a signal to dig into why (older building, weaker location, or genuine value) rather than a verdict on its own.
Frequently asked questions
One number, two meanings. Price per square foot is what a building sells for. Rent per square foot is what a tenant pays for it each year, and the two are linked by the cap rate a buyer underwrites to. If you are checking a lease quote rather than a purchase price, the rent per square foot calculator converts a $/SF quote into monthly rent, grosses it up for NNN and load factor, and compares your base rate against 7,644 South Florida sale comps.
What does that mean for your building?
Price per square foot is a starting point, not a value. Send me the address and I'll tell you where your building sits against recorded comps and what actually moves the number.
Estimates are for planning only and use simplified assumptions — not tax, legal, or investment advice. Verify with your lender, CPA, and a full broker analysis before acting.
Per-foot pricing falls as buildings get bigger
A comparable sale down the road at $430 a foot does not mean your building is worth $430 a foot. Across 4,577 recorded tri-county commercial sales since 2022, the per-foot price moves steadily against size.
Median $/SF runs about $428 under 2,500 square feet, $365 from 2,500 to 5,000, $325 from 5,000 to 10,000, $270 from 10,000 to 25,000, and $221 above 25,000. A large building trades at roughly half the per-foot price of a small one — bigger cheque, smaller buyer pool, different financing.
And the spread inside each band is enormous
In every size band the 75th percentile sits at roughly 2.3 times the 25th. Two buildings of the same size, both genuinely sold, and one fetched more than double the other per foot.
What explains the gap is everything outside the square footage: income and lease strength, condition and the age of the roof and mechanical plant, whether the land is worth more than the improvement, the corridor rather than the city, and which buyer you end up in front of. Use per-foot pricing to bracket a value and then get comparable sales chosen for similarity to your building — a Broker Opinion of Value does that and it is free.
Common questions
Is price per square foot a reliable way to value commercial property?
It brackets a value rather than setting one. Within any single size band the 75th percentile runs about 2.3 times the 25th across recorded tri-county sales, so identical square footage produces very different values.
Why do bigger buildings sell for less per square foot?
Larger buildings mean larger cheques, fewer qualified buyers and different financing. Median tri-county $/SF falls from about $428 under 2,500 square feet to $221 above 25,000.
What moves price per square foot most?
Income and lease strength if leased, condition and the age of major systems, whether the land exceeds the improvement in value, the specific corridor, and whether the likely buyer is an owner-user or an investor.
