Following the evolution of a damage avoidance design (DAD) frame system, with rocking beam-column joints, at the University of Canterbury, analytical studies are carried out to evaluate the performance of proposed structures, and verify the proposed design methodology. A probabilistic seismic risk assessment methodology is proposed, from which the expected annualised financial loss (EAL) of a structure can be calculated. EAL provides a consistent basis for comparison of DAD frame systems with state-of-practice ductile monolithic construction. Such comparison illustrates the superior performance of DAD frame systems. The proposed probabilistic seismic assessment methodology requires the response of the structure to be evaluated over a range of seismic intensities. This can be achieved by carrying out an incremental dynamic analysis, explicitly considering seismic randomness and uncertainty; or from a pushover analysis, and assuming an appropriate value of the dispersion. By combining this information with the seismic hazard, probabilistic response curves can be derived, which when combined with information about damage states for the particular structure, can be transformed into 'resilience curves'. Integration of information regarding the financial loss occurring due to each of the damage states, results in an estimate of EAL.