Prime office rents across 81 global markets increased by 1.1% during the third quarter, marking the seventh consecutive quarter where prime rents have risen, according to the inaugural Jones Lang LaSalle Global Office Index. The new data reflects an 8.2% uplift since the bottom of the market in fourth quarter 2009 and a 5.5% increase on a year-over-year basis.
Asia Pacific office markets had the highest rental growth of 2.5% quarter-on-quarter. The Americas followed with an increase of 1.1% during the same period, while the European markets remained unchanged at 2.1%.
The ongoing strength of the global technology sector gave Silicon Valley a 60% boost during the quarter. Beijing saw its office rents rise 50.6% during this period, followed by Jakarta at 48% and Moscow at 41.2%. The largest quarterly falls in rents were experienced in Mexico City, Brussels, Dublin, Vancouver and Canberra, which all experienced drops between 2% and 4%.
‘We continue to expect positive rental growth in major prime office markets during 2012,’ says Jeremy Kelly, director of Jones Lang LaSalle's global research team. ‘Most major markets are expected to see at least single-digit growth, with some markets such as Beijing, Tokyo, San Francisco and Toronto having the potential to outperform in 2012.
‘Despite signs of a deceleration in office leasing activity across the major international business hubs,’ Kelly adds, ‘the average global office vacancy rate of 13.8 percent is now the lowest in two years. The prime leasing markets in advanced economies are fairly tight and the supply pipeline remains very low. In this context, we believe that markets are well placed to resume their growth pattern once a degree of confidence resumes.’