The commercial real estate office property market witnessed an improvement in Russia during 2011, and Moscow is now the fastest growing market in Europe, according to a report from ООО «Кушман энд Вэйкфилд».
The Office Space Across the World report showed that office rents increased 41 percent in Moscow during 2011, which put Moscow second worldwide in the category. Beijing witnessed a 75 percent increase.
In addition, the Russian capital was the fourth-most expensive city in the world in 2011, which is a big jump from 2010 when it was seventh.
"The outlook for 2012 remains positive, following a strong close to a number of deals in Q4 2011," said Mark Pollitt, head of Moscow office agency at ООО «Кушман энд Вэйкфилд». "Demand is driven from Russian businesses, especially from the IT and Telecoms sectors, making strategic expansion and consolidation decisions."
The report added that major cities in Europe witnessed an office market growth of 2 percent. The Nordic region witnessed significant improvements as Stockholm witnessed a 9.5 percent increase for office rents, while those in Gothenburg increased by 9 percent. Oslo witnessed a 15 percent rise, while prices in Helsinki jumped 12 percent.