Definition of "Marginal utility"

Additional utility an individual receives when purchasing an additional unit of a commodity or service. Represents a trade off between units of cost and unit of utility. For example, an individual builds a luxury home with a swimming pool. To build a tennis court would cost $50,000 and require yearly maintenance. To add two tennis courts is extremely low, the marginal utility of building the additional tennis court at $25,000 is not enough to offset the additional cost involved. However, if it cost only $5,000 to build the additional tennis court, then there may be sufficient marginal utility to justify its construction.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

The real and personal assets of a person at the date of death. The distribution of the assets to the heirs depends on the provision of the will. If no will exists, the distribution is based ...

Cash flow before subtracting income taxes. ...

Proportionate share of an item to total items in the population. ...

Funds that are retained in an account until a certain event occurs. For example, a downpayment on a contract held until full payment is received whereupon the holding funds are credited to ...

Also called demand note. A loan with no established maturity period, callable on demand by the lender for repayment. The interest on this type of loan is calculated on a daily basis and ...

Fence constructed at the property line or other division point separating a subdivision or a home site. It marks the point of separation between two separate properties. ...

Parcel of land that is totally surrounded by other land parcels not providing access to a highway. ...

The Exclusive Right to Sell Listing is a type of Listing where the Listing Broker/Agent wins his/her commission even if he/she wasn’t directly responsible for the sale.Let’s ...

Null or void something; Revoke or destroy; rescind or set aside; abandon; abolish; repeal; surrender; waive; terminate. In real estate, to void a buy or sell order, price, or quantity. The ...

Popular Real Estate Questions