Ground Leases

Ground leases split a property into two interests — fee owner of the land, leasehold owner of the improvements — and the institutional questions on each side look completely different. The fee owner is pricing a long-duration, bond-like income stream with a reversion option at lease end. The leasehold owner is pricing a depreciating improvement on borrowed land, with cap-rate spread to fee simple driven by remaining term, rent-reset mechanics, and whether the fee position is subordinated to leasehold debt. The Safehold platform put a public-market price on the fee position; rent-reset structures (CPI escalators, FMV reappraisal, hybrid collars) decide whether leasehold cash flow holds shape over 50 years; and subordination decides whether the leasehold is mortgageable at institutional cost of capital at all.

These four articles walk the ground-lease stack from valuation through financing. Start with Leasehold vs Fee Simple if you are orienting on how the split underwrites. Go to Institutional Ground Leases for the modern Safehold-style reversion economics. Rent Resets is the workhorse for projecting 30+ year cash flow. Subordination is the decisive question for any leasehold needing institutional debt.