New York drops to sixth in global office rents market

New York is sixth in the office rents market.

Hong Kong is top of the global office rental market, with New York City failing to make the top five as fears about the US economy continue.

Chinese administrative region Hong Kong is still leading the way in the field of global office market rents, however American office space New York City has slipped from the top five list.

That is because the Chinese capital Beijing has leap-frogged the American commercial office market capital after a strong showing in 2011, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.

Behind the special administrative region of Hong Kong was London, Tokyo and Moscow, with Beijing taking the remaining spot to make up the top five.

Beijing’s assent at the expense of New York office space came thanks to the city’s aggressive tactics, with prime rent rising by 75% in the business district of the city over the past year.

Midtown Manhattan’s average office space lease is $120 per square foot, compared to Beijing’s $130 per square foot of office space and London’s $239 for West End office space.

The plans do not stop there as Beijing hopes to crack the top three with an optimistic expansion in the east side of the business district which is scheduled for 2017.

Cushman & Wakefield’s managing director in China Andy Zhang said: “With a single-digit record low vacancy rate and not much quality supply foreseeable in the coming years, we expect Beijing and Shanghai to maintain the landlords’ market position in 2012, but the rental growth will slow.”