The West End of London is the most expensive place to find offices to rent in the whole world, according to a new report. The annual Global Real Estate Markets report from property agency Knights Frank claims that office space in the West End of London has pipped Tokyo to the post as the most expensive area to rent in the whole world after rising no less than 31 per cent.
This means that office tenants were paying 85 pounds sterling per square foot by the end of last year, and those rental costs are expected to rise even higher during 2011.
"At the start of 2010, prime office rents were still falling in a significant number of the continents' markets but by the end of the year, rents had either stabilised or begun to recover in most markets," the report alleges. "The Central London office market has led the recovery in demand and rental values.
Take up strongly improved in 2010, largely because of increased demand from the financial sector. London saw the most dramatic rise in prime rents in Europe."
Tokyo had previously overtaken London as the most expensive place in the world to rent office space in 2009, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, but is now firmly regulated to second place, with Hong Kong in third, having undergone a huge rise in rental costs, since being ranked tenth in the 2009 report.
