IANS

New Delhi, Dec 1: Delhi has again joined the list of 10 cities worldwide that command the highest rentals for office space, says a report released Tuesday by global realty consultancy CB Richard Ellis.

Mumbai dropped one place to the seventh position, the report titled "The Semi-Annual Global Office Rents" added.

"While Mumbai continues to remain in the top 10, Delhi has re-joined the top 10 ranking of most expensive office markets after two years," said Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director, CB Richard Ellis South Asia.

"Although the rentals in the Delhi central business district have remained stable for the past six months, it has moved up to the 10th position primarily due to other global cities declining significantly in office rentals," Magazine said.

Delhi moved up from 12th to 10th position, while London reclaimed its position as the world's most expensive office market.

Tokyo's Inner Central, which was at the top spot in May slipped to the second place, followed by that city's Outer Central market.

Hong Kong's central business district and Moscow are fourth and fifth respectively, said CB Richard Ellis, which tracks office occupancy costs in about 180 cities around the globe.

"From the third quarter of 2009 onwards, we have seen corporates coming back into the market and office space take-up has improved," Magazine said.

"To reduce office occupancy costs further and facilitate more supply of office space, we need to urgently improve our infrastructure and amenities. This would bring our world rankings down further and make India more competitive," he added.

The year-on-year change in prime office occupancy costs of the cities monitored reveal an average drop of 7.7 percent worldwide over the 12-month period ending Sep 30, 2009.

Kiev led with the largest year-over-year decrease in office occupancy costs, falling 64.6 percent from year-ago levels.

"While there are signs that commercial real estate values are stabilising in some markets in Asia and parts of London, underlying property fundamentals are still weak," said CB Richard Ellis global chief economist Raymond Torto.

Forty-one markets experienced positive growth, with Aberdeen and Rio de Janeiro growing more than 10 percent.

For the Asia Pacific region, Singapore experienced the largest decreases (53.4 percent)followed by Ho Chi Minh City (45.4 percent) and as well Hong Kong (over 30 percent) in the past year.