valuation
economic life
Economic life is the period during which an improvement contributes to the value of the property or produces enough income to justify its existence. It is usually shorter than the physical life, since buildings often become obsolete before they wear out. Appraisers use economic life, along with effective age, to estimate accrued depreciation under the age-life method of the cost approach. The time remaining is the remaining economic life.
- Exam tip
- Economic life (useful life) is not physical life. Age-life depreciation = effective age divided by total economic life.
- Example
- A building with a 50-year economic life and an effective age of 10 years is 20% depreciated; it has 40 years of remaining economic life.
Related terms & state variants
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Last verified: 2026-10-23