In Pictures: The world's 10 most expensive office markets
London regained the title as the world's most expensive market in which to rent office space at the beginning of 2013, according to global real state services company Cushman & Wakefield. It's the first time since 2008 that Hong Kong hasn't taken top spot. No. 3 is Rio de Janeiro, up from No. 8 the previous year.
No. 1: London. At $262 (U.S.) per square foot, London’s occupancy cost (including taxes, cleaning and other services) is more than twice that of Paris, New York and Moscow. (In photo, pedestrians walk in the rain past an office building with a decorative light display in the City of London Jan. 31, 2013.)Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press
No. 2: Hong Kong dropped to second place for the first time since 2008. (In photo, pedestrians walk on a pavement in Hong Kong’s financial Central district during sunset May 11, 2011.)BOBBY YIP/Reuters
No. 3: Rio de Janeiro. The Zona Sul area of Rio de Janeiro leap-frogged into the top three, up from No. 8, as rents rose 43 per cent over the previous year.Colin Paterson/Getty Images
No. 4: New Delhi. The city’s prime business district, Connaught Place, is in fifth place. (In photo, India’s presidential bodyguards ride their horses past the illuminated Indian Defence Ministry, left, and Home Ministry during the Beating the Retreat ceremony in New Delhi Jan. 29, 2013.)ADNAN ABIDI/Reuters
No. 5: Tokyo. The city’s central business district fell from No. 3. (In photo, pedestians walk along a street in central Shebuya, Tokyo.)Rene Mansi/Getty Images/iStockphoto
No. 6: Moscow. Globally, prime office building rents rose by 3 per cent, according to the report. (In photo, a Kremlin tower is pictured with the Federation complex in the ‘Moscow City’ business district April 3, 2012.)DENIS SINYAKOV/Reuters
No. 7: Beijing. The city fell one spot in 2012. (In photo, pedestrians walk past a real estate billboard in Beijing’s central business district.)GRACE LIANG/Reuters
No. 8: New York. The midtown, Madison and Fifth Avenue areas of Manhattan are the most popular for office rentals; the city dropped one notch from the previous year’s seventh place. (In photo, a man walks into Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, Feb. 15, 2013.)GARY HERSHORN/Reuters
No. 9: Sydney, unchanged from last year. (In photo, a cruise liner is seen behind the Sydney Opera House along the central business district Dec. 18, 2012.)DANIEL MUNOZ/Reuters
No. 10: Paris, also unchanged from last year. (In photo, a view of French bank Société Générale headquarter buildings in the business district of La Defense, Aug. 7, 2012.)JACKY NAEGELEN/Reuters