Asian cities continue to dominate as the costliest places in which to set up office and Hong Kong holds onto its position is the most expensive one of all.
Four other Asian cities were listed in the top five, according to the semi-annual Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey results released by CBRE Global Research and Consulting.
The overall occupancy costs in Hong Kong – Central were £152.32 per sq ft and put the city squarely at the top of the list for the third year in a row.
London’s West End held the second place with a total occupancy cost of £144.13 per sq ft. The rest of the top five were Beijing’s Finance Street and Jianguomen CBD, and New Delhi’s Connaught Place CBD.
Hong Kong-West Kowloon ranked sixth on the list and Tokyo (Marunouchi/Otemachi) came in eighth place. New York Midtown Manhattan came in tenth. This was the first time the city has broken into the top 10 since early 2012. Moscow placed seventh and the City of London was ninth.
Occupancy costs worldwide rose slightly by an average of 1.4 per cent year-on-year. Any growth in the Asia Pacific region and the Americas was partly offset by a slight decrease in Europe. The increase does not take into account the pockets of increased activity in Jakarkta, Indonesia and Houston, Texas. These markets posted gains of 38.9 per cent and 21.2 per cent, respectively.
Dr. Raymond Torto, CBRE’s Global Chief Economist, said, “While the pace of occupancy cost growth globally has slowed, limited supply of prime space in key core business centres has fueled continuous upward movement of occupancy costs.
“The most expensive office markets often attract the regional headquarters of large multinational firms that require a prime location in a prestigious building with access to major global and regional transit routes.”
The firm keeps track of occupancy costs for prime office space in 127 markets around the world. Twenty-one of the 50 most expensive markets are located in the Asia-Pacific region and 18 are in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Eleven are situated in the Americas.
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