Exclusive | Hong Kong hotels: cash-rich investors can find bargains of up to 30 per cent in ‘hot asset class’
- The outlook for Hong Kong’s hotel sector is bright as tourists return to the city, analysts say
- Hotel Ease Mong Kok is on sale for HK$730 million (US$93.6 million), a discount of more than 30 per cent compared with its acquisition price of HK$1.1 billion in 2018
Cash-rich investors are looking to snap up hotels in Hong Kong, taking advantage of discounts of as much as 30 per cent, as a rapid recovery in tourism allows property owners to exit or trim their borrowing costs, according to industry observers.
Hotels, especially near the city’s business districts, are high on the priority of investors after retail, amid limited supply due in the next few years, said Thomas Chak, co-head of capital markets and investment services at Colliers Hong Kong.
“We see a good future for hotels,” Chak said, citing the return of tourists and the rise in the average daily rates of hotels.
“It is a good time for cash-rich investors to [hunt for] bargains because we are in a period of high interest rates,” Chak said. Investors are increasingly eyeing hotels as a “hot asset class”, with some owners keen to offload some of their assets to lower their interest-rate burden, he added.
