Data from the commercial property group CBRE on major cities across the world’s most populous country show rental rates rising in each, with demand increasing and vacancy rates dropping.
The Chinese capital Beijing in the north of the country saw its office space rents rise by 8.8 per cent on a quarterly basis in the three months to the end of September, and growth rates are tipped to remain strong.
“With insufficient supply expected in the next two to three years, the bullish market should continue,” CBRE’s report said regarding offices in Beijing.
Meanwhile, in eastern China, all major cities experienced rent increases, including Shanghai, one of the world’s leading financial centres and one of the fastest-growing cities on earth.
“The external economic volatility did not reduce market demand, as evidenced by a new high of net absorption in Shanghai for this year, which has supported continuous rental growth,” CBRE’s report said.
Net absorption of office space in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, two of the largest cities in southern China, also reached unprecedented levels in the third quarter, with demand coming primarily from rapidly expanding domestic enterprises, CBRE said.
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Activity rates in the office space markets across central and western China reportedly remained strong, with rents rising in Q3. The region’s largest city, Chongqing, was singled out as having the most active commercial real estate sector in the period assessed.
Chongqing is relatively isolated as an inland urban centre, but its massive population and rapid growth make it one of the most important cities for direct foreign investment in China. Companies including Ford, Standard Chartered Bank and Wal-Mart are now well established in the city.
Editor’s notes: In 2022, JLL’s Premium Office Rent Tracker ranked Beijing’s Finance Street district as the 4th most expensive place in the world to rent office space.
Hong Kong’s Central district was the most expensive, followed by New York’s Midtown district and London’s West End district.
In the same year, the supply of new Grade A office space in Beijing dropped by 32 per cent compared to 2021 to 423,858 square metres.
As with most locations worldwide, office leasing activity decreased during the year, and annual net absorption in the Beijing Grade A office market was 173,000 square metres, down 79.4 per cent from 2021.
As lockdowns lifted, it was expected, in 2023, that the Beijing office space market would begin to recover; however, with the delivery of approximately 2.1 million square feet of new space between 2023 and 2025, it is expected that there would be increased downward pressure on office rental values.
Shanghai was also expected to receive approximately 2 million square feet of new high-quality office space in 2023/24.
In Guangzhou in 2022, net absorption of office space was negative, no doubt in part due to the delivery of 416,953 square metres of new space through the completion of 6 developments. The new space expanded the city’s office space inventory to just over 6 million square metres.
A further 3.7 million square metres of new supply was due to complete from 2023 to 2027.
In 2022, Shenzhen saw 597,950 square metres of prime new office supply added to its stock in Futian CBD, Houhai and Qianhai.
Grade A office net absorption totalled 221,608 square metres in 2022, representing a decrease of 66.3 per cent year-on-year. This meant that the citywide vacancy rate climbed 3.6 per cent over the year to 22.8 per cent.
1.3 million square metres of space was due to be delivered in 2023; however, the reopening of borders was expected to generate demand.
Chongqing’s GDP reached RMB2,083 billion in the first three quarters of 2022, representing a 3.1 per cent increase year-on-year.
Mainly located in Jiangbeizui, Jiefangbei and Dashihua districts, 14 Grade A office buildings were launched between 2017 and the 3rd quarter of 2022.
This brought the total office stock to over 2.54 million square metres. Several Grade A office buildings were also expected to enter the market between 2023 and 2025, with most of them located in Jiangbeizui, Dashihua and Central Park.
In Beijing in 2025, full-year citywide net absorption reached 438,000 square metres. This brought the vacancy rate at the end of Q4 down to 19.1 per cent.
In 2025, the new supply totalled 180,000 square metres in Beijing, the lowest level since 2015.
Across Beijing’s submarkets, average face rents fell 2.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter to RMB 228.5 per square metre per month in Q4 2025, with the year-on-year fall reaching 10.7 per cent.
In Shanghai, 11 new projects totalling 790,000 square metres were completed in 2025, with 373,837 square metres completed in the fourth quarter.
Overall vacancy rates stood at 23.3 per cent at the end of Q4 2025.
Overall asking rents in Shanghai stood at RMB 7.9 per square metre per day at the end of 2025.
In Guangzhou, total Grade A stock rose by 7.5 per cent compared to the previous year to 7.7 million square metres at the end of 2025.
Guangzhou’s Grade A vacancy rate stood at 23.3 per cent at the end of 2025, and overall average rents were down 7.4 per cent year on year to RMB123.1 per square metre per month.
The Shenzhen office market recorded a three-year high in new supply in 2025 with a total of 21 projects, delivering 1.18 million square metres.
The citywide vacancy rate in Shenzhen was at 31.4 per cent at the end of 2025, and Grade A office rents fell 1.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025 to an average of RMB132.6 per square metre per month, reflecting a 10.6 per cent decrease year on year.
Savills, in its Global Occupier Markets: Prime Office Costs – Q4 2025, identified Beijing as the 19th most expensive location in the World in which to rent office space, Shanghai the 24th, Shenzhen the 32nd, and Guangzhou the 38th