According to a CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. survey, Hong Kong's Central Business District continued to rank globally in second place as the most expensive and also recorded the fastest year-over-year occupancy cost rise with a 34.2% increase.

The highest rents were in London's West End, and Tokyo's Inner Central remained the third most expensive market for office space. Mumbai held its fourth place position on the list while Moscow remains fifth in the CBRE rankings, which track occupancy costs for prime office space in 175 cities around the globe.

"Major markets in emerging economies feature prominently at the top of the list of most expensive office costs as measured in dollars per square foot," said Dr. Raymond Torto, CBRE's global chief economist. "This pattern developed just a few years ago and it is more pronounced today."

While comparisons in dollars are affected by currency exchange rates, annual percent change calculations are based upon occupancy costs in local currency and measurement and not influenced by currency changes.

Asia Pacific has shown measurable improvement over the past six months, led by substantial year-over-year occupancy-cost increases in Hong Kong' CBD, Hong Kong citywide, and Beijing, with gains of 34.2%, 23.9% and 11.5%, respectively. More than half of the markets in the region are now posting gains in occupier costs compared to a year ago.