SHORTAGES in commercial property in Tsim Sha Tsui are forcing buyers and tenants to move to Mongkok, sending sales prices and rent spiralling.
But industry sources said the Mongkok boom was expected to be both cost-controlled and short-lived.
Tenant resistance was likely to keep costs down, political uncertainty would put a restraint on the market, and three major developments planned for the second half of the decade would increase supply and change the market dramatically.
Assistant director at First Pacific Davies, Mr Bosco Leung, said both prices and rents in Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok were high compared with 1991 and 1992 figures, but further increases were expected over the next two years.
''We believe the Mongkok market has not reached its apex, and while prices are high, people are buying now in anticipation of future increases,'' he said.
''There has traditionally been movement between Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok, depending on rents.
