HK’s Office Vacancy Falls For 8 Consecutive Quarters

HONG KONG – Data from CBRE shows that overall occupancy of Grade A office space in the Chinese territory has declined for 8 straight quarters in Q3 2021, according to a recent report from The Standard.

The real estate consultancy highlighted that this the longest downtrend in the history of Hong Kong’s property market.

In particular, CBRE revealed that the overall vacancy rate of Grade A office space edged up by another 0.2 percentage points to 11 percent during the 3rd quarter. While this led to a new record high in terms of total vacant office space of 9 million sq ft, leasing volume for such commercial properties stayed flat at 1.3 million sq ft.

The real estate consultancy said the continued improvement in leasing momentum slowed down the rent drop in Q3, during which office rents dipped by 0.9 percent compared to the higher 5.4 percent contraction witnessed during the first six months of the year.

Meanwhile, Mingtiandi reported on Thursday (7 October, SGT) that Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam has just announced on Wednesday plans to create a new city close to the border with China.

Called the Northern Metropolis, the 300 sq km city would cover the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Boundary Control Points Economic Belt from west to east. It will also comprise the Yuen Long and North districts in the New Territories.

“Upon the full development of the entire Northern Metropolis, a total of 905,000 to 926,000 residential units, including the existing 390,000 residential units in Yuen Long District and North District, will be available to accommodate a population of about 2.5 million,” said Lam in her last policy address as Hong Kong’s chief executive.