By IANS,
New Delhi : Hit by the global economic slowdown, Mumbai has dropped from the second to fifth place in the list of world’s most expensive office destinations, according to global realty consultancy CB Richard Ellis.
London’s West End and Moscow remain the world’s two most expensive office markets, while Hong Kong’s CBD and Tokyo’s Inner Central District round out the top five.
Mumbai was ranked the second most expensive market last year while New Delhi’s CBD, which last year ranked 12th, dropped to 13th place in the new report.
Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing directorof CB Richard Ellis South Asia, said: “India’s office market slowdown is reflective of the global economic slowdown as a majority of the occupiers of quality office space are multinational companies.”
“Office supply too has seen a substantial increase in the past few years. In spite of this, Mumbai and New Delhi continue to be in the top 15 world’s most expensive office markets,” Magazine added.
“Our perceptions are greatly affected by the current economic malaise and we tend to forget how fast rents and occupancy costs were rising over the last 12 months,” said Raymond Torto, CBRE’s global chief economist.
“Clearly the rate of change is generally slowing, and in some markets the pricing direction is down. The turn in rent trajectory will provide some relief to occupiers and angst to owners,” Torto said.