Super premiums for top floors of HK office towers

[LONDON] Investors are willing to pay more than twice as much for offices on the upper floors of Hong Kong skyscrapers than for equivalent space in Manhattan, broker Knight Frank LLP said.

Workspace at "nose bleed" level in skyscrapers, which commands the highest rent, is selling for US$69,222 a square metre in Hong Kong compared with US$42,283 in second- ranked Tokyo and US$25,740 in Manhattan, the London-based broker said in a report yesterday. Five of the 10 most expensive cities are in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the report.

"Island-based cities tend to embrace the tower to maximise space," James Roberts, head of commercial research at Knight Frank, wrote in the report. "While Hong Kong and Tokyo are too far ahead to lose first and second place, I see some competition among Manhattan, London and Singapore in the coming year."