26 February 2011

BEIRUT: Central Beirut office rents held steady in 2010, but an increasing number of tenants are moving to areas with better rental deals, according to the 2011 survey of the world’s most expensive office locations by property consultants Cushman & Wakefield (CW).

The report, which was published by Bank Audi’s Lebanon Weekly Monitor, ranked central Beirut 28th most expensive among 68 cities around the world surveyed, with the Lebanese capital moving up three places since last year’s ranking of 31. It noted that rents in Beirut’s Central Business District, which are the highest in the country, stood at 427 euros ($587) per square meter per year in 2010, whereas the average net internal rent in the country stood at 368.3 euros per square meter per year. The study also indicated that rental values in Lebanon are expected to remain stable in 2011 due to the limited amount of supply and cautious occupier sentiment.

According to the study, 2010 was a year characterized by a marginal rise of 1 percent in office rents across the globe, with rents in all regions but the Middle East and Africa moving back into positive territory over the year. The 10 percent yearly decline in rents in the Middle East and Africa was primarily due to significant falls in rents in Oman, Bahrain and the U.A.E. Within this context, Lebanon bucked the regional trend as its rents remained insulated from any drops, holding steady in 2010.

Beirut ranked immediately behind Warsaw in Poland, Dublin in Ireland, and Athens in Greece, and was considered more expensive than Brussels in Belgium and Vancouver in Canada.

Regionally, Beirut’s Central Business District had the third most expensive office location among 10 cities in the Middle East and North Africa region in the 2011 survey, as per CW classification. Beirut’s regional ranking moved up one notch, after holding the fourth most expensive office location for two years in a row in the 2010 and 2009 surveys. Beirut came in directly after Doha with 565 euros per sqm, and Abu Dhabi, which has the most expensive office rental in the region of 583 euros per sqm. It came in ahead of Damascus with 358 euros per sqm and Manama and Riyadh with 320 euros per sqm each. – The Daily Star

Copyright The Daily Star 2011.