Hong Kong, hurt by US-China trade war, protests, replaced by Tokyo as Asia-Pacific’s largest commercial real-estate market in 2019
- Tokyo and Seoul took the first two spots, with Hong Kong in third place
- Hong Kong property market entering downward phase, analyst says
Hong Kong is no longer the largest commercial real-estate market in Asia-Pacific, having lost its crown to Tokyo in 2019, data and analytics firm Real Capital Analytics said on Thursday.
Tokyo and Seoul took the first two spots. In 2018, they were in second and third spots, behind Hong Kong.
“After experiencing years of strong rental and capital value growth, Hong Kong’s property market is entering a downward phase while the local economy faces pressure from both external and internal volatility and tensions,” said Terence Tang, managing director, capital markets, Asia, at Canada-based commercial real-estate services company Colliers International.
Since June, the city has been rocked by its worst political crisis in decades, with anti-government protests hurting Hong Kong’s tourism and retail sectors in particular. It was also affected by the US-China trade war, which weighed on trade and investment activity.
In the next 12 months, Hong Kong is likely to be a buyers’ market, with property prices returning to a more reasonable level. This, in turn, will prompt investors to seize opportunities and seek huge discounts.
“Affluent investors and institutional funds are also eyeing opportunities presented by distressed sales of assets,” Tang said.