According to the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, the Hong Kong property market continues to soften, dragging down rents. In January, private residential rents continued the downward trend of the previous three months, falling by another 2.6% month-on-month. This represents a cumulative decline of approximately 7.6% from the peak in September last year, reaching a new low in nearly a year and a half.
Tiffany Cheung, Senior Manager of the Property Data and Research Center at Midland Realty, pointed out that the average rent per square foot based on saleable area in the first month of this year was HK$31.7, a decrease of approximately 2.6% compared to December last year, marking the fourth consecutive month of decline. She noted that the continued softening of rents has driven the proportion of rental transactions at HK$15,000 or below to 44.5%, and it is estimated that if the downward trend continues, this proportion will rise further.
In fact, private residential rents in Hong Kong have been adjusting along with property prices since September last year. According to the Midland "Rent Trend Chart," after the average rent per square foot for private residential properties hit a high of HK$34.3 in September last year, it could not maintain the momentum and recorded declines for four consecutive months, with a cumulative drop of approximately 7.6%.
Additionally, statistics on new rental contracts from Centaline Property Agency also show that the average rent per square foot for 100 private housing estates across Hong Kong fell by 1.9% month-on-month in January this year, also marking the fourth consecutive month of decline, with a cumulative drop of 7.9%. Wong Leung-sing, Senior Associate Director of Research at Centaline, believes that the slowdown in Hong Kong's economic growth has led citizens to reduce rental expenditures, causing rents to follow the downward trend of property prices. Furthermore, as the Lunar New Year period is a traditional off-season for leasing, it is estimated that rents will continue to adjust.