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Everyone’s always complaining about the high cost of commercial real estate in the U.S. Office space in New York<\/a> or San Francisco<\/a> is regarded as top-tier and uber-expensive , where the competition for quality space is intense and the supply is low. Industry experts keep comparing the Northeast to the West Coast and compiling lists of the priciest office markets in the country–with Manhattan<\/a> usually nabbing the top spot. However, if we were to extract a list of the priciest office destinations in the U.S. and compare them with those\u00a0outside the U.S., some big differences would show up.<\/p>\n That’s exactly what we set out to do in this analysis–see how the priciest U.S. cities stack up against those outside the country, and find out whether we’re right to lament the high cost of office space here on American soil. Using as a starting point a recent analysis of the world’s priciest office locations conducted by CBRE, as well as Cushman & Wakefield occupancy metrics, we set out to see if U.S. office markets are really that<\/em> expensive, from a global perspective.<\/p>\n CBRE’s semi-annual ranking showed that Central Hong Kong<\/strong> remains the most expensive office destination in the world. Here, the average annual rental rate is $269 per square foot–equating to $22 per square foot per month. Hong Kong seems to be in a league of its own, as office rates here are 55% higher than those in Beijing, the second-priciest city, and 75% above average rents for office space in Midtown Manhattan<\/a>–the third contender on the global list (we decided to tweak the initial list compiled by CBRE and keep only the most expensive entry for each city–e.g. we kept Central Hong Kong and eliminated\u00a0West Kowloon).<\/p>\nManhattan Office Rents 75% Cheaper Than in Hong Kong<\/h4>\n