Kuwait most expensive office location in Middle East.

The strength of commodity prices globally and the opening up of new markets as areas of production and demand is leading to sustained levels of interest from corporations to locate in Africa and the Middle East, according to Emerging Markets, a report by global real estate services farm Cushman

Most of the demand from international corporations looking to establish in the Middle East and Africa is coming from the sectors of mining, and oil and gas, and, in particular in the case of Africa, telecommunications.

However these corporations face huge differences across the region in terms of levels of development, business opportunities and real estate infrastructure. Emerging Markets looks at 22 markets in Africa and 13 in the Middle East. The region accounts for 17 percent of the world's population but only 6 percent of economic output.

Michael Creamer, Cushman & Wakefield's head of client solutions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, said: "In general, it is still too early to view many parts of the Middle East and Africa as emerging areas of real estate opportunity.

"Beacons of development and modernity are present in such places as Dubai, but in general this is the last region in the world to open up to the forces of globalization, whether to international business or investment."

In the report's ranking of the most expensive cities for renting prime office space, Kuwait comes top, followed by the Angolan capital of Luanda and the Iranian capital of Tehran.

However, Kuwait's top rent of an annual US$743 sq m is only half of the top rent of around US$1,500 sq m in London, which has the highest rental level in the world.

Kuwait's position is boosted by its current use as the base for the many companies currently in Iraq.

Luanda meanwhile is the main center for Angola's extractive industry, in particular for oil and diamond mining, and where the availability of top-grade office space is extremely limited which in turn has pushed up rental levels.