London?s West End with an annual rent of $299.54 per sqft is the most expensive office space according to the world?s largest commercial real estate services firm, the Los Angeles headquartered, CB Richard Ellis Group, even as Mumbai, which was last year the second most expensive office market has been knocked down by Moscow and Tokyo to number four, with an annual rental of $ 210.97. New Delhi climbed one slot up to number seven from last year with an annual rental of $145 per sq ft.
?This drop is not due to a reduction in the rentals but because of significant rise in the rentals in Moscow and Tokyo?, said Anshuman Magazine, MD CB Richard Ellis, South Asia. The number four position is still very high and is reflective of the tight supply of prime office space in Mumbai and Delhi and of demand remaining constantly active.
The global markets rent survey is carried out annually over the data from 173 cities worldwide.
Amongst the most expensive markets, Singapore and Dubai were the new entrants in the list. Singapore ranked ninth with an annual occupancy cost of $139.31, while Dubai, which was ranked at number 10 recorded an occupancy cost of $128.49 annually.
The top 10 most expensive markets as well as the top 10 markets with fastest growing occupancy costs, didn?t have any American city, with Midtown Manhattan, ranking 13 at an annual rental cost of $103.43. Both the lists were dominated by Asian cities followed by European.
Ho Chi Minh city saw the fastest rise in occupancy cost globally, with a hike of $85.54 annually. While the second slot was occupied by Moscow with a 93% increase in the occupancy compared to last year.
Overall, Europe, Middle East and Africa dominated the list of markets with the fastest growing occupancy costs, accounting for five of the top 10 and 19 of the top 50 markets. Worldwide, 88% of the 173 office markets monitored posted higher occupancy costs.