According to the company, the cost of renting prime office space in the City of London increased by nearly a quarter over the past year or so and now stands at around £52 per square foot per annum.
Rents have also increased notably on prime office space in Hong Kong, where the economy is starting to get back on track after the global financial crisis.
CBRE suggests that, in general terms, office space in major European and Asian cities has been increasingly in demand, while many of the largest cities in America have continued to see demand decline.
However, rents in American cities are now believed to have reached the bottom of their downward cycle, and places like Washington, DC, and New York can expect demand for their office space to start picking up.
“More companies are looking to expand, and net absorption is positive in a number of office markets this quarter, including Hong Kong, Washington DC and London’s City and West End districts,” explained Raymond Torto, global chief economist at CBRE.
“A change in the supply/demand balance means that most of the key markets in Europe and Asia are now showing some degree of rental growth. There is also an expectation that rental growth will accelerate over the coming months.”
An area of some 400,000 square feet of grade A office space in London’s Docklands was recently opened by the Queen of England on behalf of the accountancy firm KPMG, which is to make the building in Canada Square its new international headquarters.
Editor’s notes: Data released in 2023 revealed that office space take-up through lettings deals in the City totalled 5.2 million square feet in 2022.
This figure was 23 per cent higher than the levels recorded in 2021; however, it was 6 per cent below the 10-year annual average of 5.7 million square feet.
The professional services sector accounted for 20 per cent of the take-up, the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector made up 19 per cent of the take-up, and the banking and financial services sector made up 12 per cent of the total take-up.
With the rounds of job cuts in the global TMT sector since 2022 and the uncertainties in the US banking sector since the first quarter of 2023, it was expected that the 2023 take-up would not exceed that of 2022.
In 2022, prime office rents in the City were £72.50 per square foot per year.
City of London office take-up reached approximately 6.5 million square feet in 2023, which was 1 per cent above the City’s long-term average.
In 2024, the City of London office market saw take-up reaching approximately 6.54 million square feet.
The total take-up by way of office lettings in the City in 2025 was approximately 6.2 million square feet.
In June 2026, the Financial Times reported that prime office rents in the City of London rose to £130.80 per square foot in the first quarter of 2026, compared with £165 per square foot for prime West End office space, reflecting a closing of the gap between the two districts and the continued flight to quality by occupiers and competition for best-in-class sustainable, amentiy-rich office space across all London submarkets.