Sydney recorded the strongest growth in office rents during the September quarter, according to JLL's Q3 Global Office Index.
Sydney office rents rose 3.9% between the second and third quarters of 2015, with predictions the solid growth will continue for the remainder of the year and into 2016, according to JLL's Global Office Index.
Sydney's result was well above the 0.5% average recorded across the Asia Pacific region. Global office rental growth was 1.0%, with The Americas region recording the strongest growth with 1.5%.
Dublin recorded the highest rental growth in the world, with quarterly growth of 10.0%.
The Global Office Index tracks the rental performances of prime office space in 95 major markets in the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.
The index showed that office rents continue to rise across the Asia Pacific, but the pace of growth has eased. Tim O'Connor, JLL's Head of Office Leasing - Australia, said, "The Global Office Index found that Asia Pacific rents as a whole maintained their upward momentum in the third quarter. But rental growth did slow modestly to 0.5% from 0.8% in the second quarter."
Highlights of the survey were:
- Sydney office rents rose 3.9% between the second and third quarters of 2015
- Melbourne office rents rose 0.6%
- Perth office rents fell 4.4%
- Hong Kong office rents rose 3.5%
- Shanghai office rents rose 2.4%
- Beijing office rents rose 1.9%
- Banaglore office rents rose 1.9%
Global annual office rental growth from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015 was 2.5%. Sydney's annual growth was a solid 8.2%. Hong Kong recorded the strongest annual office rental growth in the Asia Pacific, with 11.1%.
The Americas region recorded the strongest annual growth with 4.0%. San Francisco achieved the highest annual growth with 25.7%. Dublin was again a stand-out performer, recording annual office rental growth of 22.2%.
JLL is optimistic about the future of the global office leasing market. Corporate occupiers are actively planning for growth, and a slowdown in the development pipeline will drive increases for the remainder of the year and into 2016.
O'Connor said, "Single-digit rental growth is generally forecast across the Asia Pacific region. Among the major markets, Sydney and Hong Kong are likely to experience the strongest rental uplift by year-end 2015, while Sydney and Tokyo are anticipated to show the highest growth next year."