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London’s west end ranked second most expensive office market in the world, according to CBRE

• Hong Kong central remains most expensive office market in the world
• London (City) ranks in 10^th position
• Beijing (Finance Street), China ranks 3^rd
• Moscow is still in top 15 of the most expensive office markets, but dropped 2 points down comparatively to a year earlier

London — Moscow

Hong Kong Central remained the most expensive office market in the world with London’s West End taking second place, according to CBRE’s annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs report.

Nine of the top-10 most expensive locations are the same as last year, but London (City) returned after a brief hiatus, with overall prime occupancy costs at US$145 per sq. ft, displacing Shanghai (Pudong) for the 10th spot. Meanwhile London’s West End reached prime occupancy costs of US$235 per sq. ft.

Kevin McCauley, Head of London research at CBRE said:

“Helped by sterling’s appreciation against the U.S. dollar, the return of London (City) to the ranking reflects robust and diversified tenant demand and relatively limited new supply. London’s attraction to both UK and international businesses means that it will continue to command some of the highest office costs in the world.”

Hong Kong Central’s overall prime occupancy costs of US$3299,89 per sq. m. per year topped the “most expensive” list, followed by London West End (US$2529,63 per sq. m.), Beijing Finance Street (US$2162,58 per sq. m.), Hong Kong Kowloon (US$2 040,41 per sq. m.) and Beijing Central Business District (US$2 039,12 per sq. m.).

Global prime office occupancy costs—which reflect rent, plus local taxes and service charges for the highest-quality, “prime” office properties—rose 2.4 percent year-over-year, with the Americas up 3.2 percent, EMEA up 2 percent and Asia Pacific up 1.7 percent.

“For the first time in this cycle, prime office occupancy cost growth was consistent across all regions,” said Richard Barkham, global chief economist, CBRE. “Global economic growth has stimulated robust leasing activity, particularly in EMEA and APAC. While occupancy cost growth in the Americas slowed slightly compared to a year earlier, it remains the region with the overall largest increase in costs. We expect global office occupancy costs to increase by approximately 2 percent in the year ahead.”

Durban, South Africa, fueled by strong demand from business-process outsourcing companies, had the highest increase in year-over-year occupancy cost overall, followed by Bangkok, Marseille, Vancouver Downtown and Oslo.

Vancouver Downtown showed the largest increase in the Americas, followed by Downtown Manhattan, Toronto Downtown, Los Angeles Suburban, Midtown South Manhattan and Dallas Downtown. Costs in Midtown South Manhattan reached an all-time high as strong demand for premium space continued.

In Asia Pacific, Bangkok had the highest growth, followed by Hong Kong Kowloon, Singapore, Melbourne and Wellington.

Durban, Marseille, Oslo, Stockholm and Berlin led EMEA in occupancy cost growth.

Dubai, Shanghai Puxi, Midtown Manhattan, Moscow and Abu Dhabi saw the largest decreases year-over-year.

The top ten leaders of the world’s most expensive cities in terms of the prime occupancy costs remained almost unchanged for many years. Moscow with a value of US$1163.54 per sq m per annum is on the 14th place (the indicator includes the base rental rate, operating and maintenance costs and VAT).

“The dominant trend among markets with notably rising prime occupancy costs is strong demand from the finance, technology and e-commerce sectors,” said Dr. Barkham. “Markets with declining occupancy costs are primarily affected by supply/demand imbalances resulting from new completions. Since reduced costs due to excess inventory tend to be relatively short-lived, companies looking for space in those markets should move quickly.”

Anna Shepeleva, Director, Research Department, CBRE in Russia, said:

“Traditionally, Moscow was included in the top-10 of the rating, however, since early 2014, the position of the Russian capital city has decreased from the 5th to the 14th, partly because of switching to the rental rates nomination in Russian rubles. However, we see a high activity in the office real estate market in Moscow: according to preliminary data for the first half of 2018, the net absorption of Class A and B offices in Moscow increased 4 times compared to the same period of 2017. We expect that rental rates under the influence of a vacancy rate reduction may show an increase in 2018-2019, which can be 5-7% for Class A, for Class B - 2-3%.”

Top 15 Most Expensive Markets

(In US$ per sq m per annum; as of Q1 2018)

Largest Annual Changes

Occupancy Costs

(In local currency and measure; as of Q1 2018)

Top 5 Increases

Top 5 Decreases

Visit the report for the full list of the Top 50 Most Expensive Markets.