Tokyo came third on the list, showing a continuing trend of offices in the Asia-Pacific region picking up the pace in terms of rental increases. The top ten most expensive cities for office renting are now in the region, with Beijing’s central business district firmly in the mix and ranking fourth.
“The most expensive office markets are increasingly located in dynamic business centres across emerging economies as office occupiers diversify their global footprints in these markets to take advantage of rising incomes and the availability of labour,” commented Dr Raymond Torto, chief global economist at CBRE.
“The most expensive office occupier markets also have a diversified economic base; limited, available institutional quality space; strong currencies and are increasingly located in urban centres,” he said.
CBRE rated Moscow as the fifth most expensive place to rent offices worldwide, with Asia-Pacific and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) markets contributing equally to the top 50, with 19 cities each.
CBRE’s chief EMEA economist, Peter Damesick, suggested that the economic struggles of countries like Italy, Spain and Greece will eventually make them more competitive as office space markets, with occupancy costs likely to decrease across their major cities.
While the West End of London office space market remains the second most expensive in the world, offices in the City of London are reportedly increasingly being taken up by technology companies rather than predominantly finance and insurance firms, as has traditionally been the case.
Editor’s notes: In 2022, Hong Kong was again ranked as the most expensive location in the world to rent office space. New York’s Midtown district ranked second, and London’s West End third.
In 2023, according to Savills, the West End took first position, followed by Hong Kong, and the Midtown district of Manhattan took third.
The City of London ranked fourth, Tokyo fifth, and Beijing eighth. Moscow did not feature on the list of the 35 most expensive locations in the world, which is no surprise considering the Russo-Ukrainian war that commenced in 2022.
In Savills’ research published in February 2026, London’s West End was the most expensive place to rent office space in 2025, followed by Hong Kong and then New York’s Midtown district. The City of London was ranked fourth globally, and Tokyo was fifth.
The research did not include Moscow. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 led to heavy sanctions by the United States, the European Union, and international allies, which had detrimental effects on all office markets in the country. As of October 2026, these sanctions were still in place.