In this tutorial, you will discover step by step how a building subdivision operation works and how to quickly estimate the potential margin using Market Explorer.
🏢 What is a building subdivision?
The principle is simple:
You buy a building made up of several apartments, then you resell each apartment separately.
This type of operation, when well structured, can generate an attractive margin on resale.
Goal: calculate your potential margin. We will illustrate this using a concrete example of a building located on Rue de la Limite in Saint-Josse (Brussels).
Step 1 – Estimate the building’s purchase price
- Open Market Explorer.
- Select the Market tab, then Secondary residential.
- Filter the results to display only income-producing buildings.
- Use the Lasso tool to precisely target the neighborhood around Rue de la Limite.
- The software shows you a median price per m² for income-producing buildings.
👉 In our example: €2,200/m².
Step 2 – Estimate the apartments’ resale price
- Repeat the same operation, but this time filtering for apartments.
- Select the same area again with the Lasso tool.
- The software now indicates the median resale price per m².
👉 In our example: €2,900/m².
đź’° Margin calculation
By comparing the two data points:
- Purchase price (building): €2,200/m²
- Resale price (apartments): €2,900/m²
You obtain a theoretical margin of €700/m².
⚠️ Watch out for common areas
When you resell by unit:
- You cannot add value to all of the m² purchased.
- Common areas (lobby, stairwell, etc.) cannot be resold individually.
- This slightly reduces the surface area that can actually be monetized.
➡️ Refine your analysis
You can go further by testing different scenarios:
- Filter only for studios or 1-bedroom apartments
- Compare prices per m² by property type or quality level
- Simulate several subdivision assumptions to choose the most profitable one
âś… Conclusion
You now know:
- How a building subdivision works
- How to estimate a realistic margin in just a few minutes
- How to use Market Explorer to test your assumptions
🎯 Try it yourself on a property of your choice to see whether a subdivision operation is profitable in your area.