New | Hong Kong retains title of most expensive place in the world to rent office space

Hong Kong has retained the title of the most expensive place in the world to rent office space in its towering skyscrapers, but the pace of growth has slowed, according to international property consultant Knight Frank.

In its latest Skyscraper Index, based on the second quarter 2015 data, Knight Frank said Hong Kong’s office rent per square foot reached US$255.5 per square foot per annum. It was 67 per cent higher than that of New York City, where rents per sq ft per annum was US$153. Tokyo ranked the third with prime rent of US$125 per sq ft.

‘We are talking about the top notch buildings rents ,” said a spokesperson of Knight Frank’s Hong Kong office.

For overall Grade A office rents in Hong Kong’s prime Central business district, they averaged at US$186 per sq ft.

Knight Frank said Hong Kong also ranked number one in the index in the previous year, with rents of US$250.5 per sq ft per annum.

While London ranked the fourth with an average rent of US$122 per sq ft, it recorded the highest level of rental growth – nearly 11 per cent in the six months to June.

“Other cities are seeing considerably greater rental growth, reflecting stronger office markets elsewhere in the world,” Knight Frank said in its newly released Global Cities 2016 report.