Jones Lang LaSalle: Overall Grade A office buildings in Hong Kong recorded positive absorption for four consecutive months

The Zhitong Finance App learned that in the “Hong Kong Real Estate Market Watch” report published earlier by JLL, Hong Kong's overall Grade A office rental market recorded a positive net absorption of 18,500 square feet in July, and has recorded positive absorption for four consecutive months since April.

Alex Barnes, managing director of JLL Hong Kong, said that current office leasing transactions are mainly driven by the pursuit of better office space, and tenants are taking advantage of the opportunity to rent better office buildings when rents fall. Notably, Hong Kong Shell leased a 12,300-square-foot office building at The Millennium in Kwun Tong and was taken from Landmark East in the same district.

Cathie Chung, senior director of JLL's research department, said that Hong Kong's office vacancy rate improved slightly. At the end of July, the overall office vacancy rate fell slightly to 13.4%. With the exception of one sub-market, vacancy rates declined in most sub-markets. The vacancy rates in Hong Kong Island East and Kowloon East fell to 13.4% and 20.2% respectively. Wanchai/Causeway Bay recorded negative absorption, and the vacancy rate rose to 9.6%. However, office rents continued to decline, and overall grade A office rents fell 0.5% month-on-month in July. Hong Kong East saw the most significant decline of 2.6%, followed by Kowloon East, which fell slightly by 0.7%, while Central fell slightly by 0.2%.