'Connaught Place world's 10th most expensive office location'

New Delhi :  New Delhi’s Connaught Place has slipped one position to become tenth most expensive office location in the world with an annual rent of INR 7,106.47 per sq ft, according to property consultant CBRE. Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex is at 16th rank while Nariman Point is at 30th position in the CBRE’s latest report Global Prime Office Rent H1 2017.

“Delhi’s Connaught Place is the world’s tenth most expensive office location with an annual prime rent of INR 7,106.47 per sq ft. The ranking has fallen by one position, moving down to tenth from ninth in March 2017,” CBRE said in a statement.

CBRE’s Chairman India and South-East Asia, Anshuman Magazine said the commercial office market remained a bright spot for the real estate sector in the country on the back of better demand, steady lease rentals and continued global investors’ interest.

Delhi and Mumbai continue to dominate in the overall leasing of office space, he added. “Connaught Place over the years has emerged as one of the most sought after office spaces in the world where the global and regional head offices of world’s major companies reside.

“In spite of having limited supply of prime office space, its location in the heart of India’s capital, coupled with great infrastructure and connectivity to other parts of the city, makes it an ideal location for any business to be in,” Magazine said.

Asia dominated the top ten most expensive markets in the world, with Hong Kong holding two of the top three most expensive office markets. Hong Kong’s (Central) ranked first with overall prime office rent of INR 17,221.99 per sq ft per year, followed by Beijing (Finance Street) at INR 11,139.88 per sq ft and Hong Kong (West Kowloon) at INR 10,499.65 per sq ft.

New York (Midtown Manhattan) and Beijing (CBD) rounded the top five, with Tokyo (Marunouchi/Otemachi), Shanghai (Pudong) and New Delhi (Connaught Place – CBD) also featuring in the top ten most expensive list.
Global prime office rents which reflect rent, excluding local taxes and service charges for the highest quality, prime office properties increased by 2 per cent in the last one year.

CBRE tracks office rents for prime office space in 121 markets around the globe. Of the top 50 most expensive markets, 20 were in Asia Pacific, 18 were in EMEA and 12 were in the Americas.