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Office rents going up fastest in Abu Dhabi

SINGAPORE - Abu Dhabi, New Delhi and the Bulgarian capital of Sofia are among the cities with the fastest-growing office rents in the world, property consultancy CB Richard Ellis said on Thursday.

Abu Dhabi, capital of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, saw the sharpest increases in office rents, with lease prices surging by an average 103 percent over the 12 months to May 2007.

Office rents rose 79 percent in New Delhi, 63 percent in Sofia, 60 percent in oil- and gas-rich Edmonton in Canada, and 54 percent in the southeast Asian city-state of Singapore.

“Market fundamentals in Asia’s business hubs are being boosted by an influx of international companies, as well as expansion of local corporations,” CB Richard Ellis said.

The consultancy added that the expanding financial-services industry drove demand for offices in most of the 176 cities surveyed over the 12 months.

Compared to Asia and the Middle East, North America saw the most widespread office-rent increase with 16 American cities among the world’s 50 fastest-rising office rental markets.

Despite the price rises, the top three most expensive cities in terms of office rents in US dollar terms per square foot remained London, Tokyo and Mumbai.