Hong Kong's industrial property market has bottomed out and is beginning to show the first signs of a rebound, according to a Colliers Jardine report.
Booming mainland re-export trade, increasing demand for hi-tech data centres and expanding floor space requirements by technology companies have all contributed to an overall uptake, resulting in factory rental rises of 4.4 per cent and industrial office building rentals of 6.8 per cent.
Stemming a year-on-year fall of 2 to 3 per cent in the first quarter, prices of factories and industrial buildings are expected to increase 5 per cent in the next 12 months, with prices in the warehouse sector rising even faster, according to the report's authors.
Rentals of new industrial-office buildings are forecast to rise 9 per cent in the next year, in anticipation of the growing demand for data centres, factories, logistics centres and warehouses benefiting from the anticipated increase in mainland trade.
'China's strong economic performance and the continued growth in the regional economies, benefited the industrial property sector in Hong Kong.
In April, the total value of re-exports to Hong Kong was $109 billion, a 17 per cent year-on-year growth compared with the same month last year.