Wednesday 20 April 2016 1:06 pm

Rents are rising faster in London skyscrapers than in any other global city

By: Emma Haslett

We already knew rental prices for London office space was pretty high – but it turns out that the higher up your office is, the faster your rents are rising.

Figures from Knight Frank suggest rents in London's skyscrapers – including the Shard, the Cheesegrater and the Walkie Talkie – rose 9.7 per cent in the final six months of last year. That's three times the speed of Hong Kong and Mumbai, which at three per cent each were the next fastest risers.

There was a bit of good news for those with their sights set on a corner office in the sky: while London was the fastest riser, it's still not the most expensive place to rent high-rise office space.

That dubious accolade belongs to Hong Kong, where the average prime rent is $263.25 per sq ft – more than twice London's relatively cheap $126 per sq ft. 

Click to open in new window. Source: Knight Frank 

Our towers' rental costs are rising faster than their European cousins: in Paris, rents remained flat in the last six months of last year, while in Frankfurt they fell 1.2 per cent. 

Singapore experienced the biggest drop during the period, with rents falling 4.76 per cent to $84.75. Beijing was the only other faller – rents slid 0.7 per cent to $62.75.

Looking for somewhere more, ahem, cost-effective? Figures published in January suggested you could do worst than looking on the Circle Line – office rents in Edgware Road and Tower Hill are both among the cheapest places in central London. 

Or you could look outside central London – according to one estate agent, the outskirts of the capital are becoming increasingly trendy places to move to. As long as the public transport is reliable, obviously…