In a recent report, Delhi was ranked 84th in terms of expensive office locations around the world. In yet another report now - this time by JLL, Delhi figures among the world's top-10 most expensive locations for premium office rents. Mumbai also features in the top-20 of the list. According to the report by JLL, the most expensive premium office rent in the world is in Hong Kong, followed by London, New York, Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai, Delhi, San Francisco and London.
Premium office rents refer to the 'top achievable' in units over 10,000 square feet in a premium building in a premier office district of each city. In tall buildings, the middle zone is used as the benchmark. The report excludes rents that represent a premium level paid for a small quantity of space or highly prestigious units where a significant premium applies.
Total occupancy costs are calculated by combining the net effective rent with additional costs (e.g. service charges, taxes). The regional average is calculated based on all the total occupancy costs for the 20 tracked markets in Asia Pacific.
Keeping up with the cities are Mumbai rentals that are higher than cities like Los Angeles, Singapore, Paris, Seoul, Sydney, Frankfurt, Chicago and Toronto. Regionally, cities across Asia-Pacific are home to the world's most expensive premium office space at an average of USD 111 per sq ft every year, which is higher than the Americas (USD 85 per sq ft per year) and EMEA (USD 78 per sq ft per year).
Hong Kong's Central continues to be the world's most expensive office sub-market globally. Most striking is the differential that has emerged between Hong Kong and the next most expensive cities, with costs for premium office space now in excess of 50 percent greater than either London or New York.
At USD 300 per sq ft per year, total rents here set corporate occupiers back by close to 70% more than for comparable buildings in either New York's Midtown or London's West End. While six sub-markets from Asia figure in the top-10, economic diversity also means that it offers some of the world's most competitively priced premium space, with Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Bangkok comprising the top three most affordable premium office locations globally.
This report is the third edition of JLL's Premium Office Rent Tracker (PORT), like-for-like occupation costs across 54 major office markets in 46 cities are compared. The 2017 edition adds a further 19 markets from 2016, when 35 major markets in 31 cities of differing function and evolution were included.