LONDON: The British capital was the most expensive place in the world for office rental in 2007, with central London beating competition from Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris, a survey showed this week. A report published Wednesday found that the most expensive office space in the capital cost about 2,227 euros ($3,248) per square meter. That was considerably higher than second place Hong Kong, parts of which cost as much as 1,745 euros per square meter. In third place was Tokyo, with sought-after offices costing 1,536 euros per square meter. The annual survey, produced by commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, studied office hire costs at 203 locations across 58 countries. Office rental in the top ten most expensive places have increased by about 40 percent in value in 2007, compared with the previous year, the survey found. London, meanwhile, was also the most expensive in 2006. Last year saw the fastest level of growth in office occupancy costs in many of the world s top locations since … 2001, with the strongest demand coming from the financial sector, said Elaine Rossall at Cushman & Wakefield. Looking ahead, she added: We are unlikely to know the full effects of the current credit squeeze on the world s main office locations until further into 2008. – AFP
Top ten most expensive places to rent offices in 2007:
Rank, City, Country, Occupancy cost (euros per square meter)
1, London, Britain, 2,277 2, Hong Kong, China, 1,745 3, Tokyo, Japan, 1,536 4, Mumbai, India, 1,214 5, Moscow, Russia, 1,160 6, Paris, France, 1,035 7, Singapore, Singapore, 954 8, Dubai, UAE, 921 9, Dublin, Ireland, 823 10, New York, USA, 733
