MUMBAI: New Delhi’s Connaught Place has emerged as the ninth most expensive office location in the world with an annual prime rent of $153.26 or Rs 10,554 per sq ft, showed the the CBRE South Asia’s Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey.Meanwhile Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) stands at 26th position with an annual prime rent of $96.51 or Rs 6,646 per sq ft. Mumbai’s central business district (CBD) of Nariman Point stands at the 37thposition with an annual prime rent of $72.80 or Rs 5,013 per sq ft.
“Strong demand from finance, technology and the e-commerce sectors has fueled the growth momentum in prime occupancy costs from last year & Commercial office market remains a strong growth propeller for the real estate sector,” Anshuman Magazine, Chairman – India & South-East Asia, CBRE.
According to Magazine, Delhi being a prime market, continues to witness significant activity and has moved one step ahead to the 9th position owing to stable vacancy, rents and absorption. “We are optimistic about the Mumbai market and are expecting an upswing in the coming months”.
Global prime office occupancy costs, which reflect rent, plus local taxes and service charges for the highest-quality, prime office properties, rose 2.4% year-over-year, with the Americas up 3.2%, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) up 2% and Asia Pacific up 1.7%.
The survey highlights that for the first time in this cycle, prime office occupancy cost growth was consistent across all regions in the past 12 months. Global economic growth has stimulated robust leasing activity, particularly in EMEA and APAC regions and occupancy costs grew at a faster rate than last year. Also, Americas despite recording a mild slowdown period, witnessed the overall fastest increase in annual costs at 3.2%.
Globally, Hong Kong (Central) at $306.57 per sq ft and London (West End) at $235.01 per sq ft continued to lead the ranking propelled by banking and finance sectors. Flexible space operators were also found to be highly active in the Hong Kong market. The market with the steepest rise, Durban experienced strong demand from business-process outsourcing companies. Overall, the APAC region witnessed a 1.7% increase in occupancy cost this year from around 1.2% in 2017.