Office: Midtown Still a Global Bargain

Although it’s the most expensive North American city for office tenants, New York City remains a bargain by comparison to its global competitors, two recent reports say. Midtown Manhattan is the only submarket in the city to earn a spot in CB Richard Ellis’ semiannual Global Market Rents survey, coming in at number 13. By contrast, London has two submarkets in the global top 10.

Twelve of the world’s 50 most expensive office markets are located in the UK, compared with just two in the US—Midtown at $103.43 and suburban Los Angeles, where occupancy costs average $62.06 per sf. Canada and China also figure in the rankings with two markets each. On a continent-by-continent basis, Europe leads the way with 29 of the 50 most expensive office markets, followed by Asia with 12, North America with four, Australia with three and South America with two.

Among markets with the fastest-growing occupancy costs, Midtown just misses getting a spot in the top 20, coming in at number 21 with a 22.7% increase compared to a year earlier. That’s slightly higher than the 22.6% gain experienced by Bangalore, India.