Jul 17, 2012
by Cheryl Tay
Six of the top 10 most expensive office markets worldwide are in the Asia Pacific region, according to CBRE Global Research and Consulting's semi-annual Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey.
Hong Kong's CBD emerged as the world's most expensive office market, while Tokyo and Beijing's Jianguomen CBD took the third and fourth spots respectively. Other Asia Pacific markets that are among the top 10 include Beijing-Finance Street (sixth), Hong Kong-West Kowloon (seventh) and New Delhi-Connaught Place CBD (ninth).
Asia Pacific also recorded the strongest growth in occupancy costs, with those in Beijing's Jianguomen CBD increasing 49.4 percent in the past year.
Singapore's office market was ranked 16th on the list, with US$117.39 psf (S$148.4 psf) in office costs.
Commenting on Singapore's relatively low ranking, Moray Armstrong, Executive Director for Office Services at CBRE, noted, "The relatively low ranking may be a blessing. With office rents expected to ease further going forward, the Singapore office market appears set to retain its cost competitive edge over many other financial centres and other regional cities."
"In periods of austerity, MNCs become even more sensitive to premises costs. Add to this the fact that Singapore has benefitted from the delivery of a significant volume of new Grade A space (5.4million sq ft completed since Q1 2010) and with more developments in the pipeline, the city has ample space to accommodate occupier space needs, whether driven by growth or upgrading," he added.
Hence, there is a big chance that Singapore will outperform other global office locations in terms of being "a focal point for investment, new HQ set-up and expansion."
