Who has the worlds most expensive office space?

Hong Kong, for the third consecutive time has topped the list for the most expensive office space in the world with rents achieving as high as £152 per square foot. Londons’ West End has managed to sneak in second with rents achieveing in the high £120’s per square foot. Unfortunately for Europe the next 4 slots are Asian cities, meaning five out of the top 6 most expensive office areas in the world have been achieved in Asia.

This huge demand in office space in Asia really emphasises the demand from large multinational organisations looking to set up an office in these developing markets. Alex Goode from Morgan Pryce believes ‘’these large organisations are driving rents up in these specific areas due primarily to the lcoation of the office’’.

Many large occupiers will only know certain cities in these countires and will therefore only want to be located in the most renound locations. Many large international firms looking to set up an office in Londons West End will only consider offices in Mayfair and many of them will only consider specific roads within Mayfair. This constant demand from international occupiers has meant that landlords have been able to maintain a high headline rent keeping the capital value of their property high as well. This is now the case in the large Asian cities with many international occupiers only acquiring the highest quality space in the best location and paying a premium to achieve it which has meant rents have continued to grow in these areas. Hong Kong is a prime example of this, it has already achieved a ‘landmark’ name and with other large businesses already set up in the area along with the existing infrastucture already in place it has been able to attract further international firms into the area and therefore been able to keep rents high.

Morgan Pryce is a specialist tenant acquisition agent with offices in Oxford Circus and the City. Morgan Pryce specialises in search, negotiation and project management and works exclusively for tenants.