CBRE: The vacancy rate of Hong Kong retail spaces rose to 8% in the third quarter.

Savills released a report on the Hong Kong commercial real estate market, stating that leasing activities for Grade A office buildings improved in the third quarter of this year. Overall leasing volume increased by 25% to 1.3 million square feet (psf) quarterly; the leasing volume from the beginning of the year until now reached 3.2 million psf, showing a decrease of 12% annually. The vacancy rate for shops increased by 0.9 percentage points to 8% compared to the previous month, with only a slight decrease in the Central area vacancy rate. The report also mentioned that the net absorption of Grade A office buildings in Hong Kong reached 691,800 square feet (psf), the highest since the third quarter of 2018. Additionally, the vacancy rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 17.1%, the largest quarterly decrease since the third quarter of 2018. The overall rent decreased by 0.7% quarterly, with a decrease of 34% since the beginning of the year. In the retail market, leasing volume increased in the third quarter of this year due to accelerated growth in retail sales value. With the strong growth in tourist numbers in July and August, there was a 13.9% increase annually, and the total retail sales in the two months increased by 2.8% annually, the fastest growth since the fourth quarter of 2023. Most of the leasing activities for shops in the quarter took place on non-primary streets. The vacancy rate increased by 0.9 percentage points to 8% compared to the previous month, with only a slight decrease in the Central area vacancy rate. As for rent, there was a slight increase of 0.5% quarterly, slightly lower than the 1% increase in the second quarter of 2025, resulting in a 2.4% increase since the beginning of the year.