In "Hong Kong Property" by Centaline (Commercial Shop): November's commercial building leasing transactions fell by 5% to 450 cases

Centaline (Commercial) statistics show that the overall number of office leasing transactions in November fell to about 450, a slight decrease of about 5% compared to the previous month; the leased floor area recorded approximately 1.2477 million square feet, an increase of about 5.8% month-on-month. Centaline (Commercial) expects that due to many large enterprises intending to expedite expansion and lease renewal arrangements before the end of the year, office leasing transactions in December are expected to develop steadily.

Chen Yanlou, director of the office department at Centaline (Commercial), stated that according to Centaline (Commercial) data, the office leasing market recorded about 450 transactions in November, a slight month-on-month decrease of about 4.86%, and only a narrow fluctuation compared to about 452 transactions in the same period last year; the leased floor area in December recorded approximately 1.2477 million square feet, with a month-on-month increase of about 5.81%, but a year-on-year decrease of about 6.47%. The most notable leasing transaction in November was the renewal of the lease by the French-backed Banque de l'Indochine et du Pacifique for the 4th floor of Two Pacific Place as its Asia-Pacific headquarters, with a lease term of ten years until 2034, involving a floor area of about 85,000 square feet. Based on the current rent of about HKD 110 per square foot, the monthly rent is expected to be about HKD 9.35 million. It is reported that the bank has been leasing multiple office floors at Pacific Place for over twenty years.

As for the vacancy rate of Grade A office buildings, Chen Yanlou pointed out that the overall vacancy rate in the Hong Kong Island area has slightly increased, with an overall vacancy rate of 12.53% in November, a slight increase of 0.01 percentage points compared to the previous month, and a year-on-year decrease of 0.15 percentage points. Among them, the vacancy rates in Admiralty and Causeway Bay in November were 7.2% and 7.21%, respectively, with a slight month-on-month increase of 0.13 and 0.02 percentage points, while year-on-year improvements were 0.65 and 1.58 percentage points. In addition, the overall vacancy rate in the Kowloon area in November was 15.04%, unchanged from the previous month, with a year-on-year increase of 1.38 percentage points. The vacancy rates in Tsim Sha Tsui and Kowloon Bay were 7.05% and 22.31%, respectively, with month-on-month decreases of 0.14 and 0.23 percentage points, and year-on-year decreases of 1.28 and 2.73 percentage points. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate in Kwun Tong rose to 14.94% in November, increasing by 0.18 and 3.13 percentage points month-on-month and year-on-year, respectively.

Chen Yanlou pointed out that the core business district of Hong Kong Island, benefiting from its location advantage and a larger supply of quality Grade A office buildings, has attracted many large financial and investment enterprises to renew leases or expand their operations, supporting an improvement in the absorption situation in the core area, and gradually driving demand for office buildings in non-core areas. Chen expects that as more large enterprises expedite decisions on lease renewals and business expansions before the end of the year, more notable leasing transactions will occur, positively benefiting the office leasing market, maintaining the number of leasing transactions at a steady level, and improving the vacancy rate