Abu Dhabi office rents climb

London's West End remains the world's most expensive office rental market – but businesses in Abu Dhabi face the world's fastest-growing rents, research from CB Richard Ellis showed.

Its Global MarketView Office Occupancy Costs survey found tenants in London's West End paid an average $248.66 (Dh912.58) per square foot for office space in the year to September 30, while Abu Dhabi office rental costs surged 94.6 per cent to $132.44.

"There's downward pressure on many of the markets covered by the survey and certainly London, in particular, is susceptible to that," Richard Holberton, director of EMEA Research at CB Richard Ellis, said.

"Whether this changes the relative positions of each market, it's very difficult to say," he said.

Meanwhile, rents in London's West End were on average $14 more expensive per square foot than in Moscow, the world's second most expensive office rental market. Growth in Abu Dhabi was almost double that of the world's second fastest growing office rental market of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

Illustrating the appeal of the Middle East to multinationals, Dubai was ranked the world's third fastest-growing office rental markets with rents of $156.53 per square foot.