HK landlord sees robust demand for Central offices

Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd said leasing demand is robust for its dozen interconnected office blocks in the heart of the city's financial district known as Central, according to executive director Raymond Chow in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

"In reality, we don't see the leasing demand subsiding at all," Chow said. "What we see is a lot of corporates now are elevating and going back to quality."

Hongkong Land's optimism stands in contrast to the overall performance of the rental industry in Central. The vacancy rate in the upscale district rose to 9.6 percent at the end of July from 5.7 percent a year ago, according to data from JLL.

Office rent prices in the area fell 3.3 percent in the first seven months of the year, JLL said.

Foreign banks have been downsizing in the past year due to hybrid workplace arrangements and cost-saving measures. The government's strict quarantine rules have also raised concerns from business groups that they're threatening Hong Kong's status as a global business hub.

Hong Kong's office sector will remain a "tenant's market" in the next 12 months, Rosanna Tang, head of research in Hong Kong for Colliers International, said on Bloomberg Television on Monday. The firm forecasts a correction in office rents in 2021 before recovering from 2022 onward.

Hongkong Land's office properties are among the most prestigious in the city with tenants including JPMorgan Chase & Co, KPMG and Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.

To maintain its competitiveness in a slow market, the century-old company has been creating new services. In an uncommon move, Hongkong Land recently opened a flexible working space to capture the demand for agile workplace leasing.

Going forward, it aims to offer health and wellness amenities to its tenants to match their changing lifestyle, according to Chow.

"In the office space now, there is a convergence of how people want to live and how people want to work," said Chow. "It's almost a situation where you need to have these facilities in the ecosystem."

(Source: Bloomberg)