China Now Home to 4 of the World’s 10 Priciest Office Locations

Four out of the world’s ten most expensive office locations are in China, according to a newly released survey, with Beijing and Hong Kong leading the list.

Leasing an office in Beijing’s Financial Street (Jinrong Jie) will cost you US$2120 per square metre per year, and in the Central Business District area you could save a few bucks and get by with paying only US$2042 per square metre per year, CBRE’s Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey found.

In Hong Kong, which is already home to the world’s most expensive retail rents, companies hoping to set up an office in the city’s Central district can expect to pay even more, with rents averaging US$2522 per square metre per year. However, the economically minded can save some change by heading across the harbour to Kowloon where they would pay only US$1834 per square metre per year.

By comparison, tenants in Shanghai are getting a bargain, with rents in the city’s Pudong district averaging $1286 per square metre per year, and in on the west side of the river, rates are now lower, at only $1202.

In a comment reported in the China Daily,

Nick Jones, executive director of office and agency services, for CBRE China, said the ranking of China’s prime office markets reflects both the significance of its largest cities as essential locations for major corporations and the lack of supply of prime office space within those markets.

“The appearance of Beijing’s Financial Street and Central Business District in the global top five is a case in point, whereby historically high occupancy costs are supported by relatively buoyant domestic and international occupier demand and a continuing lack of available prime offices,” Jones noted.

The study covered 126 different markets and sub-markets, with Hong Kong’s Central being displaced from the top spot this year by London’s West End, where costs are US$2792 per square metre per month. Of the top 50 “most expensive” markets, 20 are in Asia Pacific, 19 are in EMEA and 11 are in the Americas.