31.08.11
Index Increases 7.4% Year Over Year; Rises for Fifth Straight Quarter The latest CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (CBRE) Global Office Rent Index posted a year over year increase of 7.4% during the second quarter (Q2) of 2011—the fifth straight quarter the index has risen—driven by performance in Asia Pacific.
“Although the global economy presented no shortage of economic headwinds during the second quarter of 2011, commercial real estate performed better globally than it did the previous quarter,” said Dr. Raymond Torto, CBRE’s Global Chief Economist. “With limited new-construction in many markets, tenants continued to face a shortage of preferred space, which helped to stabilize or place modest upward pressure on rents.”
The CBRE Global Office Rent Index, which will be published in the Company’s latest Global Office MarketView, shows that while the prevailing trend of global rents was broadly improving, the rate of growth was still well below those reached prior to the global financial crisis.
The improvement in the Index was driven by strong rental growth in Asia Pacific, which recorded a 13.4% year-over-year increase in Q2 2011. This marks Asia Pacific’s fifth consecutive quarterly increase also and the strongest growth rate the region has experienced since its previous peak in the fourth quarter of 2007. The growth in Asia Pacific was fueled by strong business and occupier sentiment as well as by occupiers’ preference for prime properties of which supply has been limited.
The second quarter of 2011 marked the first significant positive quarter, whether measured year over year or quarter over quarter, for the Americas. The improvement was modest with rents up 1.5% year over year. The CBRE report notes that rent growth for the Americas has been muted due to a slow economic recovery in the U.S., cautious occupier sentiment and high vacancy rates.
In EMEA, rents grew 2.4% year over year during Q2 2011, down slightly from the 2.8% increase reached in both Q4 2010 and Q1 2011. While EMEA rents recovered from the global financial crisis sooner than those in the Americas the recent moderation in growth is associated with the continued uncertainty posed by the European sovereign debt crisis.
While commercial real estate performance indicators showed signs of improvement in the second quarter, weak conditions in the developed markets have kept global net absorption rates well below pre-recession levels. Asia Pacific is the only region that has reached pre-recession net absorption levels, and with annualized completion rates still relatively low historically, this region is set to experience continued downward pressure on vacancies and upward momentum in rental growth.
The CBRE Global Office Rent Index was created by CB Richard Ellis Research and is comprised of data from 123 cities around the world. The base period for the indices is Q1 2001.
About CB Richard Ellis CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2010 revenue). The Company has approximately 31,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 300 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CB Richard Ellis offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com and www.cbre.kz