Asian cities top list of most expensive offices to rent
Asia – most notably Beijing – is experiencing a boom in office rents fueled by rising demand and increasingly limited supply, a real estate brokerage said.
Rents for prime office space in Beijing rose 75% last year to $130 per square foot per year, the highest increase of any city in the world in 2011, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Hong Kong remains the most expensive city for office space in terms of total occupancy costs at $244 per square foot, followed by London’s West End at $239 a square foot and Tokyo at $197 a square foot.
The most expensive location in the United States was New York’s Midtown neighborhood at $120 a square foot.
Globally, 2011 saw office demand improving with availability falling and rents rising by 3%. It was the second consecutive year of positive rental growth following a year of declining rents in all regions in 2009.
However, the recovery remains restricted to prime office space and is most visible in major gateway cities, Cushman & Wakefield said.
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