London’s West End remains the world’s most expensive office market with an occupancy cost of EUR 1457.59 per m[sup]2[/sup] per annum (£120.50/$182.94), according to CB Richard Ellis' semi-annual Global Office Rents survey. Hong Kong’s Central Business District (CBD) has risen to second place pushing Tokyo’s Inner Central to third place. Mumbai is now in fourth position on the list while Moscow remains in fifth in the CBRE rankings, which tracks occupancy costs for prime office space in 176 cities around the globe.

London’s West End remains the world’s most expensive office market with an occupancy cost of EUR 1457.59 per m2 per annum (£120.50/$182.94), according to CB Richard Ellis' semi-annual Global Office Rents survey. Hong Kong’s Central Business District (CBD) has risen to second place pushing Tokyo’s Inner Central to third place. Mumbai is now in fourth position on the list while Moscow remains in fifth in the CBRE rankings, which tracks occupancy costs for prime office space in 176 cities around the globe.

EMEA continues to dominate the top 50 list with 29 markets. Leaders are Moscow (occupancy cost of $125.10 per sq ft), Paris ($113.23 per sq ft), London City ($110.07 per sq ft) and Dubai ($108.92 per sq ft). Overall, the EMEA region had an annual decline of -6.2%, led by Moscow (-26.5%), Dublin (-24.6%) and Abu Dhabi (-23.7%). This region as a whole experienced 44 out of 57 markets with office occupancy costs falling.

Office occupancy costs measured in US dollars are affected by changes in the dollar’s value versus the respective local currency. Hence, office occupancy costs when converted into US dollars are driven by both the local market dynamics of supply and demand, as well as currency changes.

The report also found that on a year-over-year basis, global occupancy costs are searching for a bottom, with the markets monitored revealing a collective drop of -4.6% worldwide over the 12-month period ending 31 March 2010. Larger markets experienced a slightly greater decline of -6.4%. 'The majority of markets (133) experienced a decline, with 33 of these markets registering double-digit percentage-point drops in office occupancy costs. 53 markets experienced annual increases in occupancy costs, generally smaller markets affected by quality shifts in key market assets.