Central office vacancy falls further to 2.3% in May

April vacancy rate was already record low.

Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) just released its monthly report Hong Kong Property Market Monitor – June 2015 and revealed that Central Grade A office vacancy was further down by 0.2ppt m/m to 2.3% in May.

According to a research note from Barclays, earlier last month, JLL already noted that the 2.5% vacancy rate in April was a record low level since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
JLL said the vacancy drop in May was a result of sustained demand from Chinese firms, which accounted for half of the net take-up in Central (55,200sf).

Here's more from Barclays:

Leasing activity was largely concentrated in the mid-range of the market, where the vacancy rate of that segment dropped to 3.1%, its lowest level since November 2008.

Rent rose by 1.8% in Traditional Central and 0.5% in Premium Central. According to data from Knight Frank, rent is also increasing.

In May, Traditional Central rent rose by 1.8% m/m to HK$109.1psf per month and Premium Central by 0.5% m/m to HK$154.8psf per month.

This brings the Overall Central rent up by 1.2% m/m to HK$124.9psf per month. In 2015-to-date, Knight Frank’s data showed that Traditional Central and Premium Central rents are already up 4.6% and 2.0% respectively.