Sectors empowered by technology are driving leasing demand in the region, according to the Asia Pacific Prime Office Rental Index for the second quarter of 2015.

The rise of technology firms in Asia-Pacific fuelled leasing demand in the quarter to the end of June, according to research by Knight Frank.

Technology-centric sectors, such as online peer-to-peer financial services in Shanghai and e-commerce in India, were identified as key demand drivers in the leasing space. Indeed New Delhi recorded quarter-on-quarter rental growth of 2 per cent, putting it in third place of the 19 Asia-Pacific markets tracked, while Bengaluru earned sixth place with a 1.1 per cent climb. Knight Frank highlighted Bengaluru's status as an e-commerce hotspot, noting that Amazon and Flipkart recently signed up almost 300,000 square metres of space in the Indian city.

Meanwhile, Shanghai came in second place, with growth of 3 per cent. The city was beaten by Tokyo, which topped the list with rental growth of 7.1 per cent over the second quarter on the back of an upswing in economic cyclical conditions. 

In terms of Australian growth, Sydney featured in the top 10 with quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.9 per cent. Perth, however, suffered a 5.8 per cent decline, retaining its spot at the bottom of the list since the first quarter of the year.

“In Australia, Sydney remained the bright spot. Following Twitter and Amazon’s recent expansion, continuing the trend of technology occupier demand growth, Google is also looking to finalise its decision. Net absorption in the first half of 2015 continued to be negative in Brisbane and Perth, and a strong future supply pipeline will add to their woes through 2016,” said Knight Frank.