Ten areas in Hong Kong where rents rose or fell the most this year, and why
With banks shedding staff and cutting housing budgets, flats became cheaper in places such as Quarry Bay, Central and Repulse Bay; Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan and trendy Tai Hang among places where rents rose
A big drop in rents in some Hong Kong neighbourhoods appears to be a further indication of the downturn in the city’s finance sector, and another possible sign that expats are on the move.
Data from online property listings firm Spacious shows the biggest fall in residential rents in the first half of 2016 was in Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island, where rents dropped by an average of 13 per cent compared with the second half of 2015.
“The neighbourhoods showing the biggest drops have a few things in common. They are generally where finance professionals tend to live,” says Asif Ghafoor, founder and CEO of Spacious. “The number of people losing jobs and rental housing allowances in this industry in particular over the past 12 months is one possible reason for prices to be coming down.”
Other areas that saw a big fall in rents include Discovery Bay, down 11.8 per cent in the first half of 2016; Central, where they dropped 9.1 per cent; Repulse Bay, down 8.3 per cent; Sheung Wan, down 8.1 per cent; and the SoHo neighbourhood, where rents fell 7.8 per cent.
