Non-financial Performance Indicators
We also focus on non-financial operating performance indicators as drivers for our key financial figures and supporting control parameters.
Our business activities are aimed at protecting the environment, ensuring trustworthy, transparent and reliable corporate governance and taking social responsibility for our customers and employees. We aim to make our contribution to climate protection for society with our sustainable new construction and modernization measures, to be a transparent and reliable partner for our stakeholders, to offer our tenants affordable homes that meet their needs together with housing-related services and reliable service. We also aim to be an attractive employer for our employees, offering them prospects and paying due attention to diversity and equal opportunities. Our actions are designed to take account of the current megatrends: climate change & energy efficiency, urbanization & the shortage of housing, and demographic change. Our sustainable activities are geared towards the top sustainability topics that we have identified, which are bundled in the Sustainability Performance Index.
In 2020, the fourth most meaningful performance indicator at overall Group level, in addition to the financial performance indicators, was the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI). It is determined at regular intervals in systematic customer surveys conducted by an external service provider and shows the effectiveness and sustainability of our services for the customer.
Our sustainable activities are geared towards the top sustainability topics that we have identified, which are bundled in the Sustainability Performance Index. The CSI, the indicator that was relevant in the past, is included in the calculation of the Sustainability Performance Index. Indicators in the new index are the carbon savings achieved annually in housing stock, the share of accessible modernization measures in relation to newly let apartments, the energy efficiency of new constructions, the increase in customer and employee satisfaction and diversity in the company’s top management team. In detail, the Sustainability Performance Index includes the components set out below. Each component is assigned an individual weighting factor and a defined annual target amount. The individually weighted parameters together make up a target value of 100% to be achieved every year.
Sustainability Performance Index
The organic rent increase refers to the increase in the monthly in-place rent for the residential portfolio that was already held by Vonovia twelve months previously and rented as of the reporting date, plus the increase in rent resulting from the construction of new apartments and the addition of stories to existing properties. The monthly in-place rent per square meter gives information on the average rental income from the rented properties as of the relevant reporting date.
The vacancy rate also shows the proportion of residential units in our own portfolio that are not rented and therefore generate no rental income. It can serve as an early-warning indicator, e.g., to identify non-marketable apartments.
The number of units sold from Recurring Sales shows our ongoing efforts in the privatization business. In addition to this, we report the “Non-Core” disposals.
The fair value step-up Recurring Sales represents the difference between the income from the sale of a privatized residential unit and its last recognized fair value. It shows the percentage increase in value for the company on the sale of a residential unit before further costs of sale.
The monthly in-place rent is measured in euros per square meter and is the current gross rental income per month for rented units as agreed in the corresponding rent agreements at the end of the relevant month before deduction of non-transferable ancillary costs divided by the living area of the rented units. The rental income from the Austrian property portfolio additionally includes maintenance and improvement contributions (EVB). The rental income from the portfolio in Sweden reflects inclusive rents, meaning that the amounts contain operating and heating costs.
The in-place rent is often referred to as the “Nettokaltmiete” (net rent excl. ancillary costs such as heating, etc.). The monthly in-place rent (in € per square meter) on a like-for-like basis refers to the monthly in-place rent for the residential portfolio that was already held by Vonovia 12 months previously, i. e., portfolio changes during this period are not included in the calculation of the in-place rent on a like-for-like basis. If we also include the increase in rent due to new construction measures and measures to add extra stories, then we arrive at the organic increase in rent.