Taimur Khan, a research analyst at Knight Frank, said: “The performance of prime global rental markets is intrinsically linked to each city’s employment market and in particular the professional services sector.
“Muted performance in equity markets and record low commodity prices contributed to the index’s weaker performance in 2015.”
Prime rental markets in the world’s business centres were not evenly hit by these problems: Hong Kong and Singapore both saw falls in prime rents, but New York, London and Tokyo all reported rises.
Prime rents in London rose 0.7pc in the last year, but fell by 1.1pc in the three months to December.
Europe saw the biggest falls in prime rent, at 3.5pc, which Mr Khan put down to uncertainty surrounding Brexit, which “looks to be fuelling further uncertainty within Europe, with business activity hitting a 13-month low", according to the Markit’s European composite Purchasing Managers’ Index.
Prime property corresponds to the top 5pc of the housing market in each city
Reference: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/21/market-turmoil-hits-prime-rents-in-property-hotspots-across-the/