New Delhi, June 21: Delhi's Connaught Place is the fifth most expensive office destination in the world on the back of strong demand coupled with limited supply, global property consultant CBRE said in a report.
Of the top 10 most expensive office markets, six were located in Asia Pacific, three were in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and one in America.
According to the CBRE's global report 'Prime Office Occupancy Costs', Hong Kong (Central) tops the list of world's most expensive office markets list with an annual occupancy cost of $235.23 per sq ft, followed by London's Central (West End).
Beijing (Finance Street) and Beijing (Jianguomen- CBD) in China were at the third and fourth positions.
Connaught Place (CP), located in the heart of the national capital, was at the fifth position with an annual occupancy cost of $178.96 per sq ft. Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) stood at 11th position with occupancy cost of USD 119.93 per sq ft annually.
Connaught Place and BKC were at the same positions in the CBRE's list released in December.
"Demand for space in New Delhi (Connaught Place-CBD), ranked fifth on the Q1 2013 list, remained strong. This, combined with Connaught Place's central location, excellent access to key regional markets and limited availability of prime office space, has fuelled the area's rising occupancy costs," the report said.
The new prime supply in Connaught Place, which has come in the form of the redevelopment and renovation of existing buildings, has commanded top rents, it added.
"On a year-over-year basis, the rate of growth in prime office occupancy costs slowed, up a modest 1.4 per cent globally in Q1 2013, compared with 2.1 per cent in Q3 2012," CBRE said in the report.
The slowdown was a result of slower global economic growth as well as significant expense management and cost control, footprint consolidation, and more efficient workplace design by occupiers, it added.
Of the 127 markets tracked in this report, occupancy costs increased in 71 markets, declined in 34 and were unchanged in 22.
