Midtown is not even close to being the world’s most expensive office market

Hong Kong is still the world’s most expensive prime office market by a margin, but the Big Apple is sniffing at the top three.

Midtown Manhattan came in fourth in CBRE’s ranking of the world’s most expensive prime office markets in the second quarter of 2017, behind Hong Kong’s Central district, Beijing’s Finance Street and Hong Kong’s West Kowloon neighborhood.

At the end of 2016 Midtown ranked sixth but it has since overtaken London’s West End and Beijing’s Central Business District. However, CBRE noted in the survey that its methodology recently changed meaning shifts in the ranking don’t necessarily reflect actual rent growth.

Midtown’s prime rent averaged $153.50 in mid-2017. That’s still not even close to Hong Kong, where prime office space in the Central Business District averages $269.26 per square foot.

Midtown South ($113.53) ranked ninth and Downtown Manhattan ($75.35) ranked 24th.

“New York’s Midtown South recorded double-digit, year-over-year growth, and Downtown Manhattan and Seattle (Downtown) also placed among the 10 markets with the fastest growing prime office rents,” the report noted.