Rental prices of prime office space in Singapore fell the most anywhere in the
world during the 12 months ending March 2013, according to new data from
CBRE.
Although Asia dominates the list of most expensive office
locations, the price of prime Grade A office space in the city-state
dropped 16.3 percent as a result of an increase in supply and increased
availability at the lower end of the market. CBRE noted that the bulk of
the rental decline occurred in early 2012, with only minimal rental
corrections in the second half of 2012 and in Q1 2013.
Asia is
home to the world’s most expensive office locations as Hong Kong-Central
remained the highest priced market, and four other Asian markets
populated the top five, according to CBRE Global Research and
Consulting’s semi-annual Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey.
Hong
Kong–Central’s overall occupancy costs of US$235.23 per sq. ft. per
year topped the “most expensive” list for the third consecutive time.
London’s West End followed with total occupancy costs of US$222.58.
Beijing’s Finance Street, Beijing’s Jianguomen central business district
and New Delhi’s Connaught Place central business district rounded out
the top five.
Other Asia-Pacific markets in the top ten include
Hong Kong-West Kowloon (6th) and Tokyo (Marunouchi/Otemachi) (8th). New
York’s Midtown Manhattan (10th) returned to the top ten markets for the
first time since early 2012, joined by Moscow (7th) and London’s City
(9th). Singapore was ranked 19th globally.
“While the pace of
occupancy cost growth globally has slowed, limited supply of prime space
in key core business centres has fuelled continuous upward movement of
occupancy costs,” said Dr. Raymond Torto, CBRE’s Global Chief Economist.
“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.”
CBRE tracks occupancy costs for prime office
space in 127 markets around the globe. Of the top 50 “most expensive”
markets, 21 are in Asia-Pacific, 18 are in EMEA and 11 in the Americas.
While
comparisons in dollars are affected by currency exchange rates, annual
percent change calculations are based upon occupancy costs in local
currency and are not influenced by currency changes.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg