Waigaoqiao in Shanghai is most likely to emerge as the future CBD of the city's free trade zone whose establishment is boosting rents and asset value of offices both in and around the zone, major international real estate services providers said yesterday.

"Due to limited supply of high-quality offices within the zone at the moment, robust demand for office space, mainly from enterprises seeking registration in the zone, is boosting leasing sentiment in neighboring areas, with high-quality offices in the Pudong New Area being the most sought after," said Carlby Xie, director of research, China, Colliers International.

Research by CBRE has shown that the average office rent in the FTZ has actually doubled to about 4.20 yuan (69 US cents) per square meter per day now, with several buildings even seeing their rentals more than tripled since the zone was established in late September.

"While growth has been recorded in both rent and capital value of office properties in the FTZ, we expect Waigaoqiao, in particular, to become the future CBD of the zone due to its comparatively mature location, infrastructure and better ancillary facilities," said Sam Xie, director of research at CBRE China.

"In addition, the management committee of the FTZ is located in Waigaoqiao while the first batch of banks to have received regulatory approval to open outlets in the zone all chose Waigaoqiao to set up their sub-branches, boosting Waigaoqiao's further development."

CBRE's research shows office rents in Waigaoqiao have surpassed those in Jinqiao, Zhangjiang and Caohejing.