Midtown Misses Top 10 List of World’s Priciest Office Markets: Report
By Billy Gray December 19, 2013 7:45 am
reprintsMidtown Manhattan again laid claim to being America’s most expensive office market but, according to a CBRE ranking, it failed to crack the top 10 internationally and its gains paled in comparison to those of Boston and San Francisco’s downtowns.
Released yesterday, CBRE Global Research and Consulting’s semiannual report on office occupancy costs found that Midtown averaged $121 per square foot, a 5.6 percent year-to-year increase. London-Central (West End) topped the list, with average occupancy costs of $259 a foot. 
The Hong Kong (Central) market trailed the West End, but nearly doubled New York’s costs despite a 4.7 percent dip to $234 per square foot. Asia took four of the top five spots, with Beijing’s Finance Street and CBD markets beating out another Hong Kong sector, West Kowloon, at number five.
Stateside, Downtown San Francisco ($102 per foot) and Downtown Boston ($93.75) followed Midtown. But costs there jumped 13 percent and 15 percent, respectively. In London, whose thriving central office district was brought up as a New York competitor during this year’s heated Midtown East rezoning debate, costs jumped 14 percent.
