Delhi,Mumbai slip in most expensive cities list

“In Mumbai,IT/ITeS and BFSI (banking,financial services,and insurance) sectors continued to remain the principal demand drivers,while the city witnessed increased demand from other sectors like pharmaceuticals,aviation,infrastructure and real estate developers,albeit their contribution to overall demand was marginal,” C&W Managing Director Anurag Mathur said.

The other cities that ranked above Mumbai are Tokyo,London,Moscow and Dubai.

Paris,Damascus,Abu Dhabi and Singapore also found berth in the list of the twelve most expensive cities.

“With the slowdown in the global economy,many corporates eased or postponed their expansion plans in Mumbai resulting in subdued demand for office space.

As a result Mumbai witnessed an overall vacancy of about 12 per cent in 2008,which is significantly higher than the previous 4-5 per cent of vacancy recorded in 2007,” C&W said.

The consultant pointed out that Worli,which came at the 10th position,witnessed a correction of about 13 per cent in rental values in 2008 over the previous year. It recorded a vacancy of about seven per cent last year as against two per cent in 2007.

The report by C&W compares office occupancy costs in 202 key locations in 57 countries around the world. Of these,58 per cent showed rental growth,26 per cent saw stable rents and 16 per cent showed a rental fall in 2008.

However,globally office rent rose by an average of three per cent last year,which was significantly below the 14 per cent growth achieved in 2007,the consultant said.