Hong Kong has replaced London’s West End as the most expensive office market in which to accommodate staff, according to new research from Cushman & Wakefield. The annual Office Space Across The World report surveys occupancy costs across 215 office markets in 58 countries worldwide. Using proprietary data, it ranks occupancy costs per workstation and workplace densities for newly developed or refurbished office space globally. Limited availability and strong demand from mainland Chinese corporations have pushed Hong Kong costs up 5.5 percent to $27,431. Escalating rents are driving a growing number of multinational corporations to decentralise to lower cost areas.
As a comparison, for the same cost of accommodating 100 staff in a Hong Kong office, 300 can be accommodated in Toronto, 500 in Madrid, and 900 in Mumbai.
By contrast, costs in London have fallen 19 percent since 2016 – largely as a result of currency depreciation – to an average of $22,665 per workstation per annum. Paris, also in the top 10 albeit nearly half the cost of London, saw costs fall too.