As Caswell notes, the national office market is rebounding even if rental rates are following at a distance. Data from CB Richard Ellis shows that national vacancy fell from 14.5 percent at midyear 2004 to 13.4 percent at the end of June.
With the U.S. economy outpacing most of Europe and Asia, Caswell expects more U.S. cities to break into the top 50 list by the end of this year. One factor that influences the rankings is the relative strength of each nation’s currency, so a strengthening dollar should push U.S. rents up relative to rates in foreign cities.
The most expensive office market in the world is London’s West End district, where an average square foot cost $178.67 at midyear. The second steepest rents were found in Tokyo’s Inner Central office district where an average square foot fetched $131.10.
London held onto its number one ranking from 2004. Meanwhile across the English Channel, Paris defended its position as the world’s fifth most expensive office market for 2004 and 2005. The average cost to rent one square foot of Parisian office space was $89.58 at midyear.
And what about the cheapest of all top 50 world markets? That dubious honor goes to Ottawa, Canada where the average per square foot cost was $37.62 at midyear. That’s some value when you consider that the same space is roughly four times less expensive than London’s West End.
