A raft of new surveys by international real estate and research firms are out looking at the costs for the top international markets for office space. Typically, these surveys look at the costs to set up an office in a city or area of a city during the first half of 2008. These costs include property rental, taxes, services and transportation costs and are put out by, among others, Colliers, Cushman and Wakefield, CBRE and RICS.
Each organization uses its own methodology for determining occupancy costs, so they all have slightly different outcomes but are, in general, pretty similar. Colliers Global Office Real Estate Review, Midyear 2008, indicates that Hong Kong is the most expensive city for Class A prime office space, costing US $213 per square foot of space. London’s West End comes in second at $207, followed by Moscow, London City, Kiev and Central Tokyo. The top ten is rounded out with Singapore, Mumbai, London’s Docklands and Delhi, which costs approximately $100 per square foot. Midtown Manhattan is a relative bargain, coming in 11th at $97.
In the CBRE Half Yearly Survey on global rates, London’s West End is at the top of their list, followed by Mumbai, London City, Moscow, Inner Central Tokyo, Outer Central Tokyo, Paris, New Delhi, Dublin and Hong Kong.
The King Sturge Survey, which looks at costs on an annual basis, has London’s West End on top with a cost of €1,851,21 per square meter annually. Hong Kong and Moscow follow, and Belfast came in the least expensive in the survey at €319.88 per square meter annually.
Finally, Cushman and Wakefield’s Office Space Across the World 2008 has London first at a cost of $312 per square foot, with Honk Kong a distant second at $238. The top five of this list included Tokyo, Mumbai and Moscow. Again, Manhattan came in at a reasonably affordable rate of about $100 per square foot.
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