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London: Growth in global office rents slowed to an average 3.2 per cent in the first half of 2008, relieving occupiers struggling to cope with higher business costs and a faltering global economy, a survey showed on Monday.
In its Global Industrial and Office Rents survey, property consultant King Sturge said office occupation costs continued to weaken worldwide, with almost a third of respondents claiming rents had fallen in the six months to June 30.
The survey said average office rents in the period grew by 3.9 per cent across Asia Pacific, 3.1 per cent in Europe and 2.8 per cent in North America - the epicentre of the subprime mortgage crisis and the subsequent credit market freeze.
Tailing off
After several years of growth, King Sturge said office rental growth had started to tail off in Hong Kong and had come to a standstill in Tokyo, where prime rents were unchanged at 1,109 euros ($1,622) per square metre.
London's West End remains the world's most expensive office rental market, with rents dipping very slightly during the period to 1,851 euros (Dh10,051) per square metre.
The nearby London City financial district was named the world's fifth most costly rental market, with average rents of 1,089 euros per square metre.
Midtown Manhattan office rents stood at 519 euros per square metre, around one third of the 1,413 euros per square metre office rents in Moscow, the survey showed.
Paris was the seen as the world's fifth and Europe's third-most expensive City for office occupation, with rents of 896 euros per square metre.
Paris office rents were higher than supply-constrained Singapore and India's Mumbai but King Sturge said a cautious economic environment could mean those rents have peaked in the current cycle.
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