One Portfolio, Six BOMA Standards: Which Measurement Method Applies Where?

Space measurement is the foundation every lease negotiation, expense recovery, and asset valuation builds on. But how do you maintain that foundation when every asset class in your portfolio follows different rules? 

BOMA standards exist to create the shared language that makes those figures comparable and contestable between parties. The Building Owners and Managers Association publishes and periodically updates a distinct standard for each asset class, because space is shared, monetized, and recovered differently across property types.

What does that mean for firms managing multiple asset types in 2026?

The Visitt team stays current on updates to BOMA standard methods of measurement so your measurement foundation never falls behind your portfolio.

Every asset class has its own BOMA standard 

BOMA accounts for differences in asset class space sharing and monetization with a distinct standard for each one.

BOMA guidelines for office buildings 

The BOMA 2024 Office Standard applies to all office building types, from commercial and medical to institutional and life science. The 2024 update introduced changes that directly affect how Rentable Area is calculated:

• Qualifying unenclosed at-grade areas, including tenant patios and outdoor amenities serving tenants exclusively, are now included in Rentable Area
• Tenant balconies and terraces carry no load factor, separating them from enclosed suite calculations
• Tenant storage areas roll into Rentable Area without a load factor applied
• A new "Non-Allocated Tenant Areas" (NATA) category covers Unenclosed Tenant Areas, Tenant Storage Areas, and Single Tenant Shafts, none of which are included in Load Factor calculations
• Life science buildings now have defined treatment for tenant shafts and rooftop equipment
• "Inter-Building Areas" has been renamed "Inter-Allocated Areas" to reflect that these spaces may serve limited tenants within the same building, not just across multiple buildings
• Method B circulation rules have been simplified to support non-center-core building layouts

BOMA standards for industrial and flex buildings 

The BOMA 2025 Industrial Standard applies exclusively to industrial and flex buildings and their associated structures. The 2025 update introduced changes that reflect how modern logistics operations use the entire site, not just the interior slab:

• Qualifying at-grade unenclosed areas, including truck courts, outdoor storage yards, and loading docks under exclusive tenant use, are now formally included in Rentable Area
• NATA allows specialized tenant installations to be measured directly to the user without inflating load factors for other tenants
• Multiple load factors now distinguish between Building Service Areas and Inter-Allocated Areas, giving landlords a defensible breakdown of CAM charges
• Clear height measurement has been standardized, addressing a longstanding gap for high-volume warehouse and logistics tenants where verified volume directly affects lease economics
• The standard remains compatible with International Property Measurement Standards (IPMS), supporting cross-market portfolio comparison 

BOMA measurement standards for retail properties 

The BOMA 2025 Retail Standard applies exclusively to retail properties and their associated structures. The 2025 update to the BOMA standard measurement for retail introduced terminology and structural changes that directly affect how GLA is reported:

• GLA now refers exclusively to actual leased areas, aligning BOMA measurements more closely with lease agreement terminology
• "Occupant Area" has been replaced with “Retail Units,” and "Tenanted Areas" is now the primary classification, covering both retail units and leased kiosks
• The Global Summary of Areas clarifies that Boundary Area can serve as Single Occupant GLA, but only when an overall measurement is performed rather than a partial measurement
• New special conditions address drive-throughs, perimeter columns, and unexcavated areas, resolving ambiguities from the 2020 edition
• A new methodology covers vertically aligned stacked staircases common in smaller street-level retail properties
• More intuitive terminology, updated and expanded illustrations, and integrated BOMA best practices make this the most accessible edition for retail property teams

BOMA guidelines for mixed-use properties 

The BOMA 2021 Mixed-Use Standard is the most current BOMA standard for mixed-use properties, updated from the 2012 version. It applies exclusively to mixed-use properties and their associated structures, for integration with the applicable single-use BOMA standards:

• Mixed-use common areas are allocated proportionately based on the relative size of each use component, then applied to the corresponding single-use BOMA measuring standards for each component
• A Global Summary of Mixed-Use Areas spreadsheet supports both BOMA and non-BOMA methodologies across components
• Interior Gross Area/Exterior Gross Area ratio are no longer featured
• Compatible with most legacy BOMA building measurement standards, allowing flexibility across portfolios measured under older versions
• Areas of interest can be separately disclosed, supporting space utilization analysis, valuation, benchmarking, and building expense allocation across cost centers

BOMA standards for multi-family and hospitality properties 

The BOMA 2023 Multi-Family and Hospitality Standard is the most current BOMA measurement standard for these asset types, updated from the previous Multi-Unit Residential Standard to formally include hospitality properties. It accommodates a wide variety of architectural designs and space configurations:

• Three distinct measurement methods are now available: the Inside Gross Method, the Inside Net Method, and the new Centerline Net Method, which measures to the center of demising walls in line with standard industry practice
• The previous distinction between "Leased Units" and "Owned Units" in the Net Method has been removed, simplifying BOMA calculations across ownership structures
• Inter-Building Area calculations now determine each occupant's proportionate share of non-living areas based on living areas
• More Unenclosed Areas, including certain outdoor amenity areas fundamental to the property's operations, can now be included in the Boundary Area
• Partial Measurement capability allows teams to measure portions of a property without conducting a full building measurement

BOMA gross area standards 

The BOMA 2024 Gross Areas Standard applies to all building types and provides a comprehensive methodology for measuring and presenting BOMA square footage data in ways useful to any property stakeholder. The 2024 update introduced changes that expand how gross areas are measured and reported:

• A categorized, systematic approach allows stakeholders to dissect and analyze building areas in an unlimited number of ways across asset types
• A new Gross Area 5 (ENERGY STAR® Method) adds direct compatibility with the ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager, the industry standard for benchmarking energy use across commercial and multifamily buildings
• Five methods are now available: Gross Area 1 (Leasing), Gross Area 2 (International), Gross Area 3 (Volumetric), Gross Area 4 (Construction), and the new Gross Area 5 (ENERGY STAR®)
• Extended support for unenclosed areas, including Occupant-Use Unenclosed Rooftop Service Areas, At-Grade Service Areas, At-Grade Amenity Areas, and Public-Use Unenclosed At-Grade Areas
• Fully aligned with the latest IPMS benchmarks for cross-market BOMA measurement and portfolio comparison

Visitt, for property compliance you can count on 

Visitt is a member of the Building Owners and Managers Association, collaborating on how standardized data shapes modern building operations. The centralized platform directly integrates BOMA-aligned information within CRE property management workflows spanning facility management, commercial property inspections, work order management, amenities management, and more. And the COI Agent runs certificate of insurance validation end to end, with compliance document management and incident records on the same platform as day-to-day operations.

If your team is ready to speak a unified measurement language across your portfolio, talk to our team and explore how we can work together.