Perth seventh most expensive CBD office market in the world, Sydney falls to 10th: Knight Frank

Larry SchlesingerDecember 8, 2020

On the back of the mining boom, Perth has come from nowhere to rank as the seventh most expensive city in the world to rent prime office space, above Sydney, which has fallen from eighth to 10th spot, according to new global figures from Knight Frank. 

A square metre of Perth CBD office space costs just under €720 ($897) per year,while a square metre of Sydney CBD office space costs €687 ($857). 

Perth is a new entrant in the top 10 “after seeing strong rental growth on the back of demand generated by Western Australia’s booming resources sector and the falling availability of prime space,” says Knight Frank. 

Brisbane ranked 15th on the list (down from 14th) while Melbourne’s ranking has moved up from 23rd to 21st

Outside of Australia, Central Hong Kong overtook London’s West End as the location with the highest prime office rents in the world during 2011, following rapid rental growth in the first half of 2011. Rents in the fourth quarter of 2011 were up 28% on 12 months earlier. 

However, with office demand weakening, Hong Kong grade-A rents are forecast to soften in 2012. 

Prime office rental growth in London slowed in 2011, after an exceptional increase of 31% was recorded in 2010, says Knight Frank. 

The top 10 is completed by the major established financial centres of Paris, Singapore, Geneva and Moscow.

Global CBD office rents, Q4 2011

Market

Rent (€/sq m/yr)

Rank 2010

Rank 2011

Hong Kong, SAR China

1,247.58

3

1

London (West End), UK

1,188.16

1

2

Tokyo, Japan

988.25

2

3

Moscow, Russia

926.64

4

4

Paris, France

830.00

5

5

Singapore

728.54

6

6

Perth, Australia

718.89

N/A

7

London (City), UK

706.48

7

8

Geneva, Switzerland

698.39

11

9

Sydney, Australia

686.67

8

10

Lagos, Nigeria

648.65

10

11

Dubai, UAE

633.55

12

12

St Petersburg, Russia

594.59

17

13

Mumbai, India

563.49

9

14

Brisbane, Australia

538.18

14

15

Manhattan, USA

534.96

22

16

Milan, Italy

525.00

16

17

Stockholm, Sweden

503.91

20

18

Beijing, China

465.89

48

19

Delhi NCR, India

457.38

15

20

Melbourne, Australia

452.54

23

21

Oslo, Norway

450.53

25

22

Washington, D.C., USA

439.54

40

23

Frankfurt, Germany

432.00

26

24

Abu Dhabi, UAE

420.41

13

25

Rome, Italy

420.00

24

26

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

416.99

19

27

Shanghai, China

408.65

35

28

Aberdeen, UK

404.62

27

29

Istanbul, Turkey

398.46

29

30

Manchester, UK

378.93

33

31

Hanoi, Vietnam

370.66

21

32

Birmingham, UK

366.08

31

33

Doha, Qatar

362.93

18

34

Munich, Germany

360.00

32

35

Bristol, UK

353.24

34

36

Helsinki, Finland

348.00

41

37

Edinburgh, UK

346.82

36

38

Glasgow, UK

346.82

37

39

Boston, USA

344.03

68

40

Miami, USA

342.87

51

41

Amsterdam, Netherlands

340.00

39

42

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

339.77

43

43

Dublin, Ireland

325.00

28

44

Madrid, Spain

324.00

38

45

San Francisco, USA

313.78

54

46

Leeds, UK

308.28

44

47

Warsaw, Poland

307.20

49

48

Brussels, Belgium

295.00

42

49

Vienna, Austria

294.00

47

50

 Source: Knight Frank

 

Larry Schlesinger

Larry Schlesinger was a property writer at Property Observer

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