DC ranks No. 6 for US office rents

WASHINGTON — Downtown D.C. remains one of the most expensive office markets in the U.S., although it doesn’t crack the top 30 globally, and office rents in the world’s most-expensive office market are three-and-a-half times as high as D.C.

Commercial Café, using data from CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield, said the average per-square-foot rent in D.C.’s central business district is now $76.50, ranking Downtown D.C. No. 6 on the list of priciest U.S. office markets.

New York’s Midtown Manhattan tops the list, with average office rents exactly twice what they are in Downtown D.C., at $153.50 per square foot.

San Jose, California, ranks No. 2, at $111.00, followed by the central business district in Greenwich, Connecticut, at $91.55. Downtown San Francisco, at $88.63, and downtown Boston, at an average $77.01 per square foot.

Miami; Orange County, California; Austin and Los Angeles round out the 10 most expensive U.S. office markets.

The most expensive office market globally is currently central Hong Kong, where the average rent is more than $269 per square foot.

Hong Kong is followed by Beijing’s Finance Street, London’s West End, Tokyo’s Marunochi/Itemachi, and Shanghai’s Pudong.

This chart, from Commercial Cafe, lists the most expensive office markets globally and in the U.S.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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