Capital Expenditure
The capital expenditure definition is an evaluation method of investments that a company of any kind, including real estate developments, makes to maintain or upgrade tangible assets. These tangible assets are financial outlays that improve or sustain the company’s scope of operations and increase the full value of the property.
Some of the Capital Expenditures in real estate
Capital expenditures in real estate include investments that increase the value of the property. Installing an innovative solar roof is seen as capital expenditure, a new swimming pool for your tenants or vacationers can also increase the value, intense renovations, a new spa, a new gym, etc. Capital expenditures are not seen as losses from profit but investments in the property.
What Does Capital Expenditures Tell Investors?
When investors look at real estate investments, they consider the property’s net operating income (NOI), telling them how profitable the property can be. The reason they look at it is that from NOI, they can see what the margin of profit is once the operating expenses (OPEX) are subtracted. Once they have the capital expenditure (CapEx) potential, what can go to investments, they see the property’s potential to grow.
The CapEx also tells real estate investors how much they actually invest. While the full potential of investment would be the NOI, any company that wants to succeed needs an actual profit. But this is where it can get tricky. It is the investor’s decision how much they are willing to finance in the CapEx.
Something that might help investors differentiate CapEx from OPEX is that OPEX is deductible expenses while CapEx is mentioned in the balance sheet, not in the income statement. CapEx might also appear in the real estate property’s cash-flow statement as investments and is often cited as PP&E (property, plant, and equipment). From the cash-flow statement, an investor can see previous investments in the property and check if investment grew or decreased.
The Formula for calculating Capital Expenditures:
Besides adding all the costs of investments, CapEx has a formula.
Capital Expenditures = PP&E Costs + Current Depreciation
Popular Real Estate Terms
A land property estate contingent upon the occurrence or lack of occurrence of a particular event whereupon it can be created, augmented, or dismantled. ...
Money paid for a real estate project or investment that can be taken off on the tax return as an expense. Expenditures made during construction of a building that do not go directly into ...
A special agent in real estate is a real estate agent hired to do a specific task or job, as opposed to a general agent, who is a real estate agent who can do any task he or she is assigned ...
Operating property for business use, such as managing an office complex. ...
Gentrification is an urban development phenomenon wherein a specific area changes its population profile by way of an economic appreciation of its real estate. The best way to understand ...
Easement with the objective of keeping scenic beauty or to forbid constructing something else blocking that view. The property is retained in its natural setting. ...
Gift of real property as stipulated in a will. ...
An attached dwelling in a multiple housing complex having at least two floors and usually a garage. Such dwellings are typically found in condominiums and cooperatives. ...
Cubic unit of measure for a board one-foot long, one-foot wide and one inch thick, or 144 cubic inches. These measurements are not actual, since they are stated prior to finishing and ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.