Connaught Place, Delhi’s central business district (CBD) has been ranked the sixth most expensive prime office market in the world.
According to a semi-annual survey by CBRE, a leading commercial real estate services and investment firm, ``Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs,’’ Connaught Place at $ 160 per square foot in Q3 2014, moved up two places to the sixth spot on the global top 10 rankings over Q1 2014.
Mumbai’s alternative business district of Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) remained at sixteenth at $ 103.52 per square foot and the CBD of Nariman Point at $ 76.57 per square foot was at thirty-second position on the Top 50 rankings for global prime office properties.
Despite Connaught Place moving up on the rankings, ``annual occupancy costs here remained stable because of Rupee appreciation since the first quarter,’’ Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & MD, CBRE South Asia, said in a statement. ``I have to add that the Capital has seen a strong leasing environment amid limited availability and shortage of new corporate real estate spaces. Office occupiers from the financial services and media sectors dominated commercial space transactions during the year.’’
During the quarter, annual occupancy costs in Gurgaon too remained stable while that of Nariman Point dropped by about 2 per cent and BKC by about 6 per cent, the report said. ``Meanwhile, Bangalore’s CBD, which saw a nearly 9 per cent drop, was among the top five global prime office markets to witness a decrease in yearly occupancy costs.’’
London West End’s overall prime occupancy costs of US$ 274 per sq. ft. per year topped the most expensive list. Others among the top five were Hong Kong Central with a prime occupancy cost of US $ 251 per sq.ft, Beijing’s Finance Street (US $ 198 per sq.ft.), Beijing’s CBD (US $ 189 per sq.ft.) and Moscow (US $ 165 per sq. ft.).
CBRE tracks occupancy costs for prime office space in 126 markets globally. Of the top 50 `most expensive’ markets, 20 were in Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), 20 were in Asia Pacific and 10 were in the Americas.
