Hong Kong's robust serviced apartment market is a hotbed of investment, with existing operators expanding and new players emerging. Among them is Oakwood, a name that is both new and yet familiar.
Singapore-based Oakwood Asia-Pacific, a division of America's Oakwood Worldwide, has had a presence in Hong Kong for many years, sourcing long-term executive housing. Oakwood Apartments Mid Levels East opened in May as the company's first own-brand property in Hong Kong, adding to a growing portfolio of Oakwood properties in China - Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu - and elsewhere in the region.
P. G. Mathew, managing director, Oakwood Asia-Pacific, says strong demand makes it an 'opportune time' to advance in Hong Kong, which it has done with a local partner, Tai Hung Fai Enterprise. 'The timing is excellent. There has been quite a movement of expatriates from Japan, so that has pushed occupancy up, while Hong Kong in itself attracts a large number of expatriates,' he says.
Early results are promising. The take-up of Oakwood's new, 24-unit building in Kennedy Road has been so quick that Mathew will soon put out the house-full sign. Ninety-five per cent are long-staying corporate residents, while only 5 per cent are leisure visitors.
More than 22 years in the business, Mathew has seen a demographic shift. No longer are expatriates always Westerners - they're just as likely to come from Japan, Korea, the Philippines or the mainland. Oakwood apartments have adapted to meet this changing profile.
'Westerners tend to use ovens a lot, whereas Asians use a wok and rice cooker. So our kitchens are equipped with both, simply because the nature of who constitutes an expatriate has changed,' Mathew says.
