"Financial centers have been most significantly affected by declining occupier demand," the report explains, pointing out that the most material decreases were in office rents. The interdependent global economy has found itself at the mercy of a faltering Wall St. and as the report has measured 170 cities across the globe, office occupancy costs fell 2.8% over a 12-month period that ran until the end of March 2009. This drop stands in contrast with an 8% gain from the same cities over another 12-month arc ending in Sept. 30th of 2008.

With the top two cities scoring a dual mention--Tokyo and London--no US city even landed in the top ten. Regardless of its dubious mention in the number one slot, Tokyo's Outer Central area fell into the number five slot and London's City coming in under the gun at number nine. Respectively, their rents were, on average, $149.58 and $103.50 per square foot.

There were a few rises in occupancy costs were measured in places like Charlotte, NC; Marseille, France; and Perth, Australia, however the report notes that these were more likely due to the completion of "top quality new building" where none previously existed or particularly unique market conditions. The steepest declines came from London's West End, Moscow, Oslo and New York City's Midtown markets. Although, New York City's Midtown is the most expensive market in the US, it ranked only 21st in the global survey, while Boston's suburban market dropped just shy of 30%, putting it number four on the list of top decreases. According to the report, the top five decreases were Singapore, New York City's Midtown, Hong Kong's CBD, Boston's suburban and Hong Kong, again, but this time City Wide.