London, Tokyo, New York Office Rents Fall First Time Since 2002

Office rents in London's West End, midtown Manhattan and Tokyo fell in the third quarter for the first time in almost seven years as the global financial crisis cut demand, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. said.

The total office occupancy cost in the West End was 139.50 pounds ($248.66) per square foot a year in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, down 5.1 percent from a year earlier, Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis said today in its semiannual global-office survey. Rents in London, midtown Manhattan and central Tokyo last fell from a year earlier in January 2002, during the last recession.

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Comments

[gcallaghan]

Will this disappearing wealth end up in someone's pocket or was it all imaginary from the start?

[walk0nwalls]

Maybe at the end of this all I can actually afford to live in Manhattan.

[robinhood1]

Don't hold your breath. Don't forget, NYC still has residential rent control and a lot of old timers who have lived in their rent controlled apartments for 30 or 40 years. They are not about to move out so that you can have a place to live until the undertaker comes and gets them.