Hong Kong has most expensive office rents: Colliers

Hong Kong topped the chart of the world's most expensive office rentals in the world in 2008, despite a slip in average rents for prime office space, a report from Colliers International showed on Thursday.

The report said rents in Hong Kong's central business district fell 2.1 per cent year-on-year to $178 (Dh655) per square feet by the end of 2008. In the first two months of this year prime office rents dropped another 16 per cent and vacancies rose.

Moscow took the second spot on the global rank for prime office rental costs at the end of last year, followed by central wards of Tokyo, London's West End, Dubai and Singapore.

"All regions of the world are now experiencing recession or recessionary like conditions and as a result demand for office space is substantially reduced," said Colliers, a real estate services company.

"The outlook for 2009 is for a further weakening in fundamentals and little prospect of recovery until early next year."

Deteriorating global economic conditions and tight credit markets have hit property prices globally.  The report said the Australian cities of Brisbane and Perth had seen the steepest decline in rents in Asia Pacific, of more than 28 per cent in the second half of 2008.