The battle for cost competitiveness this year will be in decentralised locations rather than core-area office rents, according to an FPDSavills report.
Senior director Simon Smith said there was a tendency when comparing rents in different areas to take the best space available in each.
However, he said the relevance of prime central business district office costs was limited because space there usually was taken by top-tier financial institutions.
For investment banks and brokerages, considerations such as telecommunications systems came before accommodation costs.
Rentals in prime buildings would be less relevant to the market situation this year.
Mr Smith said last year's demand drivers in the office market were financial services, insurance companies and the information-technology sector.
