Almost half of the office markets in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are now experiencing rental growth or stability, according to the latest 'Global Office Rental Cycle' research report by CB Richard Ellis. Following the Q2 bounceback, the EMEA region now closely trails the Asia Pacific region, which leads the global recovery in this sector.

Almost half of the office markets in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are now experiencing rental growth or stability, according to the latest 'Global Office Rental Cycle' research report by CB Richard Ellis. Following the Q2 bounceback, the EMEA region now closely trails the Asia Pacific region, which leads the global recovery in this sector.

The research report measures prime rents and take-up levels across 17 global markets. Paris, in particular, experienced a notable increase in office rents in the second quarter of 2010, the study found. Prime rents rose by 3%, and CBRE expects further rises over the coming months. This has been triggered by improving demand and a shortage of good quality space in core areas where supply pipelines are starting to tighten.

Office rental markets in Asia Pacific remained the driving force behind global real estate recovery, with most markets in the region either stabilising or moving into the growth phase during the second quarter of 2010.

'Despite a generally weaker economic outlook and the possible impacts of significant austerity measures, Europe is only slightly behind Asia in terms of the percentage of office markets registering rental growth,' said Raymond Torto, Global Chief Economist at CBRE. 'The City of London continues to lead the other key global markets in terms of the scale of rental growth seen to date. This is due to increased demand in the financial sector. Furthermore, despite expectations of a slowdown in growth, rents in London's West-End remained stable in the second quarter.'

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing are at the top of the Asia Pacific market due to a push for office space from the financial sector in central business locations. Across the Americas, most major markets were still clustered around the 'rental decline slowing' position in the cycle at the end of Q2, meaning that rents are still falling but at a slower rate.