London has retained the title of the world's most expensive office location, according to a new report.
The eighth annual Global Office Occupancy Costs Survey, by property consultants DTZ, shows that London’s West End tops a list of the world’s most expensive areas to invest in office space.
The survey forms a price guide to major office locations covering 113 business districts in 44 countries world-wide and is based on total occupancy costs per work station.
Figures reveal that the average annual cost per workstation in the capital’s West End is £10,392, a figure which is £2042 pounds more than the average cost in Paris, which came second in the list.
Such high costs do, however, indicate a recovery in the office market, with further rental growth on the horizon, say DTZ.
Present occupancy costs in the West End represent a 16 per cent year on year increase, which the consultancy believes is partly due to the appreciation of the British Pound against the US Dollar.
The high costs also reflect the Capital’s increasing popularity as a business location, despite worries that increased outsourcing to emerging office markets such as India and China could undermine growth.
Elspeth Lochhead, director at DTZ Pieda Consulting, said: “The survey results show that Europe and London remains extremely strong as a global business centre.
“We anticipate that occupancy costs will continue to rise in major business centres around the world during 2005.”
While office locations in Western Europe proved the most expensive, areas located in the Asian Pacific, such as The Philippines, proved least expensive.
