Companies moving out of central business districts to save money

Rising rents and wage costs on the mainland are driving more big businesses to move out of city centre offices.

The wave of decentralisation, fuelled also by normal business expansion, has prompted more developers to build commercial projects in second- and third-tier cities.

Among the high-profile businesses moving from core to non-core, or even less mature sub-markets, are many Fortune 500 firms, says property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.

The latest example is hi-tech United States manufacturing firm Honeywell, which has relocated its Beijing office from the Eagle Run Plaza in the Liangmahe submarket of the capital to the relatively new C&W Industrial Park in the Jiuxianqiao submarket, located on the city's northeastern edge.

The new office building spans nearly 15,000 square metres and has allowed Honeywell to consolidate all of its Beijing employees into one location.

Fellow US global giant Nike last year announced a long-term partnership with Tishman Speyer to strategically relocate its greater China headquarters to The Springs, a development located in northeast Shanghai, in the first quarter of next year.

A spokesman for another US hi-tech company, Eaton, said expansion and growth needs were the main reasons for the company to move to a business park in Shanghai, where its Asia-Pacific headquarter office is now located.