Sun Hung Kai Properties expects annual rental income at its flagship apm shopping centre in East Kowloon will increase 10 per cent to HK$300 million this year.
Maureen Fung Sau-yim (right), the general manager for leasing at Sun Hung Kai Real Estate, said rents for 10 new leases at apm had been renewed at rates 30 per cent higher than the previous terms.
In the first half of next year, she said a third of the leases at apm would be due for renewal. Leases are renewed every three years.
'We will raise rents by that time,' Fung said without disclosing by how much.
Rental prices at apm range from HK$90 to HK$300 per square foot. Although apm has only been open for five years, she said the firm would spend HK$50 million renovating the shopping centre next year.
Fung said sales at apm reached HK$2.23 billion in the first nine months, up about 11 per cent from a year ago.
'We have confidence that sales will exceed HK$3 billion this year in anticipation of a bumper Christmas,' she said.