London is the most expensive city in the world for office occupiers, according to CBRE’s Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey.
The West End headed the top five with total occupancy costs of $273 (£182) per sq ft per year including rents, rates and service charges.
Chinese cities dominated the top five, with central London ranking eighth overall.
Hong Kong Central was the second most expensive for occupiers with costs of $269 per sq ft per year. Beijing’s Finance Street came in third with costs of $191 per sq ft per year.
Globally office rents rose by 2.4% this year.
The city that saw the biggest increase was Seattle where costs rose by 17.3%, ahead of a 15.2% rise in Belfast.
Of the top 50 most expensive cities, eight were in the UK.
At a continental level the Americas saw costs growth of 3.1% owing to more office-using employment in the US. Europe, Middle East and Africa grew by 2.2% collectively following economic recovery.
Richard Barkham, global chief economist at CBRE, said: “The global services sector has grown steadily for four years now, which helps to explain the general uplift in office rents and costs we are seeing worldwide.
“Despite the fact that some markets have been hit by the China, oil and commodities slowdowns, we expect that most advanced economies will keep growing in 2016 and 2017.”
