London, Tokyo Head World's Most Expensive Office Locations

By Agence France-Presse London and Tokyo remain the world's most expensive office locations, according to a recently released global property report showing rents falling in most of the world's major cities in 2002. Commercial property rents were burdened by weakness in the global economy, corporate scandals and worries of a Middle East conflict, according to the report by property consultants DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (DTZ). With the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the euro and the British pound, six of the 10 most expensive locations are in Western Europe, while New York's Midtown district is the only U.S. location on the list. Three new entrants to the top 10 in 2002 were Birmingham, Moscow and Manchster where occupancy costs on nationally quoted terms increased between 3% and 16%. The top 10 most expensive office districts in the world, with prices in U.S. dollars per square foot per annum are London's West End ($146.70), London City ($118.60), Tokyo's Central Five Wards ($91.90), Paris ($81.40), Edinburgh ($67.30), Birmingham ($64.90), New York City's Midtown ($62.80), Moscow ($62.30), Hong Kong ($59.30) and Manchester ($58.50). Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2003