Jakarta office cost 2nd cheapest

Jakarta office cost 2nd cheapest

Occupancy costs for prime office space in Asian cities are the lowest in Manila, Jakarta and Bangkok, a study showed on Thursday in Singapore.

Among 14 cities covered by the CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) findings, Grade A office space was 0.84 U.S. cents per square foot at the end of June in the capital of the Philippines.

Next was 1.01 U.S. in Jakarta and 1.02 in Bangkok.

Occupancy cost is rent inclusive of service charges and taxes.

Costliest by far was Tokyo, at 9.51 U.S. while Mumbai emerged second at 3.23, Hong Kong at 2.99 and Seoul at 2.72.

With occupancy costs sliding since 2001, Singapore came out fifth at 2.56, a 10 percent decline from the previous quarter.

It is still more expensive than New Delhi, at 2.32, Shanghai, 2.25, Beijing, 2.13 and Taipei, 2.01, the study found.

"Even though the market was inundated by an increased amount of vacant space made available at a low rental level, most corporate tenants (in Singapore) remained uncommitted to taking up additional space, mainly due to lack of capital expenditure budget," CBRE said.

Rents here have fallen 54 percent from their peak in 1996 while those in Jakarta showed the greatest improvement, up 4.35 percent from the previous quarter. -- DPA