Hong Kong’s real estate investors head offshore for better returns, as prices and rents decline at home amid a slumping economy
- Family offices, as the investment vehicles of ultra-high net worth tycoons are called, have begun to increase their offshore assets to between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of their portfolio, CBRE says
- The UK and Australia are becoming increasingly popular for some investors, agents said
Hong Kong’s real estate investors are increasingly looking offshore for better returns on their investments, amid the city’s declining rents and resale prices for office space and retail lots in a slumping economy.
Family offices, as the investment vehicles of ultra-high net worth tycoons are called, have begun to increase their offshore assets to between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of their portfolio, compared with the previous 10 per cent, said CBRE Hong Kong’s capital market executive director Reeves Yan.
“We saw a lot of demand for overseas investment from high net worth individuals and institutional funds since the second half of last year,” as their asset reallocation picked up speed with the deterioration of Hong Kong’s political crisis, he said.
While Hong Kong’s pegged currency and bank deposits have withstood the headwinds from more than seven months of anti-government protests, the economy’s first technical recession in a decade is dragging down on home prices, office rental charges and has led to a record vacancy rate in high-end retail space.