Commercial property deals in Hong Kong expected to decline this month

Commercial property deals are expected to fall away this month after a jump last month that was driven by the phase two release of Billion Plaza in Cheung Sha Wan.

Take-up of space in the 255,981 sq ft gross-floor-area commercial and office project by Billion Development and Project Management helped lift the total number of commercial transactions for August to 152, from 76 in July, said Ricacorp Properties.

More than 70 of the deals were at Billion Plaza, said Patrick Chow, Ricacorp head of research.

"Since there is no new project on sale this month, the total number of commercial property deals will return to the levels of July. There are only a few buyers in the commercial property secondary sales market at the moment," said Chow.

If the Legislative Council passes the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill, stamp duty will double for property sales exceeding HK$2 million transacted on or after February 23, the day after the anti-speculation measure was announced. Apart from the doubling of stamp duty on the purchase of non-residential properties, concerns that rentals had peaked and could now start falling had also dampened investor interest, Chow said.

International property consultancy DTZ said demand for business space was sluggish in the third quarter so far, with overall "negative absorption" of 191,928 sq ft in the period, against net absorption of 114,296 sq ft in the second quarter.