> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.spacebaseapp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Dashboard metrics > Compare current and effective rent, understand common metric calculations, and choose useful dashboard measures. Lease metrics summarize your lease-administration data. Start with the exact metric label: **Current Rent**, **Effective Rent / Year / Unit**, and **Effective Monthly Rent / SQFT** do not all use the same inputs. Dashboard layouts and available metrics vary by property type and company configuration. Choose the comparison you need, then use the metric descriptions below when requesting changes to your company's dashboard configuration. ## Current versus effective rent **Current annual rent per square foot = Annualized rent for the current rent period ÷ Current square feet** Spacebase annualizes current-period rent using the lease's rent frequency: monthly × 12, quarterly × 4, semiannual × 2, or annual × 1. This shows the current rent level; it is not a forecast of the next 12 months with every future increase included. **Effective annual rent per square foot = Average annual rent over the term ÷ Average square feet over the term** Average annual rent is total recorded rent over the term divided by the term in years. Average area accounts for changes in area over time. If your company uses the current-term setting, the applicable current term is used instead of the original full term. ### Example: a rent increase A two-year lease covers 10,000 square feet throughout. Monthly rent is \$10,000 in year one and \$12,000 in year two. There are no abatements or other rent adjustments. | Metric | Year-one view | Year-two view | | ---------------------------- | ------------- | ------------- | | Current annual rent | \$120,000 | \$144,000 | | Current annual rent / SQFT | \$12.00 | \$14.40 | | Effective annual rent | \$132,000 | \$132,000 | | Effective annual rent / SQFT | \$13.20 | \$13.20 | Effective rent spreads the recorded rent across the term. Current rent shows the rent level for the current period. ## Common rent and cost metrics | Metric | Calculation and use | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Current Rent** | Rent expenses due in the current rent period. Check the lease's rent frequency before comparing raw amounts. | | **Current Rent / Year / Unit** or **Current Annual Rent / SQFT** | Annualized current rent divided by current area or units. Use for current cost comparisons. | | **Effective Annual Rent** | Total rent over the applicable term divided by term in years. | | **Effective Monthly Rent** | Effective annual rent divided by 12. | | **Effective Rent / Year / Unit** or **Effective Annual Rent / SQFT** | Average annual rent divided by average area or units over the term. | | **Current Opex / Year / Unit** | Annualized current operating expenses divided by current area or units. | | **Current Rent + Opex / Year / Unit** | Annualized current rent plus operating expenses, divided by current area or units. | | **Effective Opex / Year / Unit** | Average annual operating expenses divided by average area or units. | | **Effective Rent + Opex / Year / Unit** | Average annual rent plus average annual operating expenses, divided by average area or units. | | **Total Rent Over Term**, **Total Opex Over Term**, **Total Capex Over Term** | Recorded totals for the selected expense type over the applicable term. | | **Total Lease Cost** | Total recorded lease-administration expenses over the applicable term. It is not the accounting lease liability or ROU asset. | | **Current Fiscal Year Rent** | Rent due within the company's current fiscal year. It is not just current monthly rent multiplied by 12. | **Effective Monthly Rent / SQFT** and its other per-unit variants currently use average annual **total cost**, divided by 12 and by **current area**. They therefore may differ from Effective Annual Rent / SQFT divided by 12. The standalone **Effective Monthly Rent** metric uses rent only. Check the full label before comparing these values. The **Current Monthly Rent / SQFT** family uses current rent-period expenses divided by current area. For leases with a quarterly or other nonmonthly rent frequency, use the annual metric to make a consistent comparison across leases. ## Space and occupancy metrics | Metric | Meaning | | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Square Feet**, **Square Meters**, or **Size** | Current recorded area in the displayed unit. | | **Current Headcount** | Recorded headcount for the current month. | | **Current Capacity** | Current recorded seating capacity. | | **Current Cost / Seat** | Annualized current lease cost divided by current capacity. | | **Utilization** | Headcount ÷ (capacity × capacity ratio). See [capacity ratio](/general/company-settings/general). | For portfolio effective rent per unit, Spacebase divides the combined average annual rent by the combined average area. This is area-weighted, rather than a simple average of each lease's displayed rate. ## Choose a useful set of metrics * For rent comparisons, use current annual rent per unit, effective annual rent per unit, and size. * For budgeting, use current fiscal year rent, operating expenses, and total cost. * For space planning, use headcount, capacity, utilization, and cost per seat. * For contract review, pair expiration and notice dates with current rent and total rent over term. Before investigating a difference, confirm the selected leases, expense categories, currency, units, term dates, area changes, and rent frequency. Rent abatements affect rent metrics when recorded in the underlying rent data; an allowance recorded elsewhere is not automatically a reduction to every rent metric. Subleases can be shown as negative cash flows in portfolio metrics. A zero per-unit result can indicate missing or zero area rather than free rent. Review the underlying [lease data](/leases/abstraction) and [expense categories](/general/company-settings/expenses) before using the metric for a decision.