Hong Kong office rent most expensive in the world

ASIAN cities are coming to dominate the most expensive cities to have an office on the planet, according to new research from real estate website Commercial Café.

The business districts of Hong Kong and Beijing trumped both Midtown Manhattan in New York and London’s West End as the world’s priciest office addresses.

Companies can expect to pay a whopping US$269.26 per square foot or €2,368.17 (US$2923) per square metre annually for the privilege of having office space in the Central district of Hong Kong.

Crazily dense HK was in a “league of its own” said Commercial Café, noting that rent was 55 percent higher than at second-placed Beijing’s Finance Street – where office space is a cool €1,530.97 (US$1890) per sq. m. a year.

Source: Commercial Cafe

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Central HK rent was 75 percent higher than Midtown Manhattan and even with a budget of US$10,000, companies can only get themselves a mini office of 41 sq. m.

In the fifth-placed Marunouchi/Otemachi district of Tokyo, businesses will be paying €1,161.75 (US$1,434) per sq. m.; in Shanghai’s Pudong they will fork out €1,056.38 (US$1,304). Connaught Place in New Delhi was ranked eighth above Paris, costing $1200 per sq. m.

Asian financial centre Singapore was ranked relatively low at 19^th for destinations outside of the US – making it more affordable than Sydney, Mumbai, Seoul and Shenzhen.