Floor area ratio (FAR) is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. It is often used as one of the regulations in city planning along with the building-to-land ratio.[1] The terms can also refer to limits imposed on such a ratio through zoning. FAR includes all floor areas but is indifferent to their spatial distribution on the lot whereas the building coverage ratio (or lot coverage) measures building footprint on the lot but is indifferent to building height.
Written as a formula, FAR = gross floor area/area of the plot.
Lower maximum-allowed floor area ratios are linked to lower land values and lower housing density.[2] Stringent limits on floor area ratios lead to less housing supply,[3] and higher rents.[4]
- ^ Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 269.
- ^ Moon, Byunggeor; Ahn, Sungin (2022). "The effects of a FAR regulation in a model of durable building with redevelopment: The case of New York City". Regional Science and Urban Economics. 95: 103775. doi:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103775. ISSN 0166-0462. S2CID 247425125. Archived from the original on 2024-04-29. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ Brueckner, Jan K.; Leather, David; Zerecero, Miguel (2024). "Bunching in real-estate markets: Regulated building heights in New York City". Journal of Urban Economics. 143. doi:10.1016/j.jue.2024.103683. ISSN 0094-1190.
- ^ Büchler, Simon; Lutz, Elena (2024). "Making housing affordable? The local effects of relaxing land-use regulation". Journal of Urban Economics. 143. doi:10.1016/j.jue.2024.103689. ISSN 0094-1190.