It is expected that this year's tenant structure will continue to shift from foreign tenants to mainland tenants, while foreign tenants will also shift from the US or Europe to Asia.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that on May 14, Savills published the May Hong Kong Residential Rental Market Report. It is expected that this year's tenant structure will continue to shift from foreign tenants to mainland tenants, while foreign tenants will also shift from the US or Europe to Asia.
The report pointed out that due to the slow return of expatriates and layoffs at many investment banks, the luxury property rental market performance was sluggish in the first quarter of this year, but the rent index in each region only changed by -1% to 1% from quarter to quarter. Foreigners looking for a new home in Hong Kong are mainly from Southeast Asia, and the monthly rent budget is around HK$40,000 to HK$80,000.
According to the report, Hong Kong's local tenants and mainland tenants were more active in the first quarter. Existing local tenants are mainly seeking to sublet housing or reduce rental conditions to save money. Currently, there is no new demand from local tenants. As for newly arrived mainland tenants, the rent budget is around HK$40,000 to HK$50,000. They love new furnished properties close to MTR stations. Most of them come from investment/fund companies or the trading industry.
The report notes that the limited supply of high-priced properties is another notable trend. There are very few homes on the market with rents over HK$200,000, and properties with rents over HK$500,000 were soon rented by senior mainland executives, so luxury property rents remained relatively stable.
According to a survey by the Hong Kong Government, more than half of mainland talents who arrived in Hong Kong through Gao Cai Tong chose shared housing or low-budget serviced housing; most of them were single or married couples, who initially chose contracts with a rental period of 6 months to 1 year and a rent budget of about HK$10,000 to HK$15,000.
Tang Zhuoxuan, director of Savills Research and Consulting, said that the tenant structure is expected to continue to change this year, from foreign tenants to mainland tenants, and landlords should prepare for this transformation.
Li Baofang, director of Savills Hong Kong Housing Services, said that landlords should respond to these changes by adjusting decoration, service projects and budget expectations to attract and retain tenants.