Global Scene
Office rents in top world markets soar-report
Asking rents for prime office space in 10 major global markets rose
in the year ended June 30, with the London's West End posting the
biggest rise and its greatest increase in 19 years, CB Richard Ellis
Group Inc CBG.N said on Wednesday.
Five of the markets saw rents spike more than 20 percent, while
vacancy rates declined in all and remained in the single digits, the
world's largest real estate services company said. "Rent increases of
more than 20 percent in bellwether cities like London, New York and
others significantly underscore the continued strength of the global
office market," said Ward Caswell, CB Richard Ellis U.S. director of
research, said in a statement.
The West End of London saw the greatest leap in asking rent, up 37.1
percent to an average of 120 pounds sterling, or $243.73 per square
foot. Currency conversions were done on Aug. 1.
Tokyo posted the second-highest asking rent, at 690,000 yen per tsubo,
or $163 per square foot. Rents rose 16 percent.
Paris asking rent rose 13.7 percent to 771 euros per square meter or
$97.92 per square foot. Hong Kong rents rose 24 percent to HK$717.60 per
square foot, or $91.65 per square foot. Although it is the most
expensive U.S. office market, New York looked like a bargain with
average asking rent at $63.56 per square foot, up 34.4 percent, the
second greatest jump of the pack.
Reuters
China says export boom shows goods still welcome
Foreign sales of some Chinese products have been shaken by reports of
dangerous goods, but the country's fast-rising exports show most
consumers remain untroubled, senior Chinese officials said on Thursday.
The "Made in China" brand has been tarnished in recent months by a
stream of incidents of tainted and faulty products and recalls of
millions of toys.
Assistant Minister of Commerce Wang Chao blamed misleading news
coverage for smearing the nation's reputation.
"Some consumers have had misunderstandings about 'Made-in-China', and
that has led to sales of some products made in China encountering
problems," Wang told a news conference.
"But I must say that in the past period the growth rate of Chinese
product exports has risen. That is, most importers, retailers and
consumers retain a fair and understanding attitude towards China's
products." U.S. imports from China totalled $121.0 billion in the first
five months of the year, and are on track to surpass last year's record
of $287.8 billion, when the bilateral trade deficit also reached a
record $233 billion.
China could become the third-largest market for U.S. exports by the
end of the year, the Commerce Ministry said in a report issued at the
briefing.
But the officials spent most of their time parrying questions over
product safety scares and other disputes dogging trade with the United
States.
Excessive amounts of lead in paint on toys and other children's
articles led the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a
recall of more than 300,000 Chinese-made items on Wednesday.
That followed Mattel Inc's recalls of millions of toys - including
436,000 die-cast toy cars because their paint may have contained too
much lead. Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng also said some foreign
media reports had grossly exaggerated China's quality problems, but he
acknowledged the concerns were shared by the country's own citizens.
"China's residents, its ordinary people, have concerns about food
safety and quality problems that are absolutely no less than those of
consumers in other countries," Gao said.
Reuters
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