London Office Market Fares Better Than Hong Kong, New York
UNITED KINGDOM – The latest quarterly Global Cities Survey of the London Property Alliance showed that the office property market of the country’s capital performed better than rival financial hubs, such as New York and Hong Kong, reported Bdaily News on Monday evening (4 July, SGT).
Despite a marginal gain, the office vacancy level in Central London remains firmly in single digits at 8.7 percent, while that in Hong Kong and New York’s Midtown reached 10.9 percent and 21 percent respectively in Q1 2022.
Aside from that, rents of prime office space in the City of London and West End respectively increased by 7.7 percent and 12.2 percent year-on-year during the period under review. On the other hand, prime office rents in Hong Kong dipped 1.12 percent, while that in Midtown, New York slid by 2.22 percent.
“The findings of the latest Global Cities Survey are encouraging and demonstrate London’s strong economic performance and recovery against international competitors despite the wider UK’s economy slowing down,” said Alexander Jan, the group’s Chief Economic Advisor and one of the authors of the survey.
“Post-pandemic trends relating to our travel, working and shopping habits are clearly a feature of everyday life in London, and our rival cities. We must not let disruption to our airports, railways and TfL services derail the green shoots of recovery,” he added.
The survey, which was conducted by Centre for London, charts the economic recovery of London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, and Berlin. It provides an analysis of the latest statistics available across 19 economic and societal indices, including office rents and office vacancy rates.
The survey shows London’s economy has performed solidly during the first quarter, outperforming rival global cities in areas like employment, office rental growth, economic output, and foreign direct investment.
Meanwhile, the analysis indicates that Hong Kong and New York are facing difficulties in recovering in some key areas. For instance, Hong Kong still has a range of stringent COVID-related curbs in place in a bid to achieve zero infections.
