Hong Kong has the second most expensive office space at US$122.33 (£85.80) per sf and the City of London is at number three at $122.19 (£85.80) per sf. Paris, which is positioning itself as a rival business location to London, is considerably cheaper than the UK capital. Prime Paris space costs US$ 79.96 (£55.97) per sf to occupy.

The cheapest office locations of the 58 cities surveyed was Lille, France, at $13.91 (£9.75) per sf; Strasbourg, France, at $13.91 (£9.75) per sf and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at $12.64 (£8.86) per sf.

Angus McIntosh, Head of Research at King Sturge, said: 'The survey shows that, with the exception of Hong Kong, the top 15 cities in the survey are in the Northern Hemisphere. It also shows that cites focussed on global financial and business services, such as London, Paris, Edinburgh, Frankfurt and Zurich, and TMT sector (technology media and telecom) in Boston command the higher rents.'