Hong Kong’s industrial property segment seeing pick up amid rising demand for data centres, JLL says

Hong Kong a ‘prime destination for institutional investors and data centre operators, thanks to its strong data processing demand, highly skilled workforce, natural disaster-free environment and stable power supply’: JLL executive
Sydney-listed industrial property firm Goodman Group kicks off conversion of Tsuen Wan building into data centre

Hong Kong property

Cheryl Arcibal

Published: 8:30am, 25 Jan 2024

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Hong Kong’s industrial property segment is seeing a pick up in demand, with the likes of Microsoft Datacenter Holdings committing to long-term leases for data centre facilities, property consultancy JLL said.

The American software giant has committed to a long-term lease for a portion of HK2, a project being developed by Shanghai-based data centre services provider GDS in Kwai Chung that is expected to come on stream in 2025, JLL said. Microsoft did not reply to a request for comment.

“As digitisation, automation and AI [artificial intelligence] computing soars, so does the need for data centres that can handle the complex and massive tasks of AI algorithms, machine-learning models and big data processing,” said Kai Chui, a senior director of data centre services solutions development in Asia-Pacific at the consultancy.

“Data centres require scalable and reliable infrastructure and networks. However, the traditional challenge is the scarcity of new supply and buildings suitable for conversion into high-capacity data centres in the city.

“Despite this challenge, Hong Kong remains a prime destination for institutional investors and data centre operators, thanks to its strong data processing demand, highly skilled workforce, natural disaster-free environment and stable power supply.”

Industrial property can be considered a rare bright spot for Hong Kong’s overall property market. While the city’s average office rents fell by about 6 per cent last year as vacancies lingered in double digits, settling at 12.8 per cent in December, mass residential capital values fell by 2.5 per cent month on month in December for an eighth consecutive monthly decline, bringing the full-year price decline to 5.5 per cent, according to JLL.

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Goodman Group, a Sydney-listed industrial property group, has also started construction on a new 50-megawatt (MW) data centre in Tsuen Wan, it said in a separate statement on Wednesday.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 2026 and involves the conversion of Goodman Texaco Centre, an old industrial building located in one of Hong Kong’s three major data centre availability zones.

“Tsuen Wan is a highly sought-after availability zone, a key focus for a location for us since 2014, when we acquired an end-of-life industrial property,” said Paul McGarry, Goodman’s head of Asia.

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“Since then, we have been regenerating the site into the 225MW Tsuen Wan West data centre campus. Together with the redevelopment of the old Goodman Texaco Centre warehouse, we are showing how we are increasing the value of our existing portfolio through the development of data centres.”

The completion of Goodman’s data centre will see a total of 392MW of data centres under management in Hong Kong.

Over the past six months, the Hong Kong data centre industry has recorded US$2 billion in leasing deals, Goodman added.

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Other activity in the industrial property segment included Storefriendly acquiring the Hale Weal Industrial Building in Tsuen Wan for HK$560 million (US$71.6 million) in December, in partnership with US private-equity giant Blackstone, JLL said. The building will be converted into the operator’s fifth self-storage tower in Hong Kong.

RedBox storage, which is backed by Canadian investment management firm Brookfield, snapped up an entire floor of the Hong Kong Industrial Building in Sai Ying Pun for HK$82.9 million.

Elsewhere, the unnamed owner of two buildings on Wai Yip street in Kwun Tong filed a planning application to develop the combined sites into mixed floors of retail spaces and data centres spanning 290,163 sq ft.

As of the third quarter of 2023, the industrial leasing market saw average monthly rents for general industrial buildings rise by 11 per cent from a year ago to HK$12.90 per square foot, while average monthly rents for modern logistics buildings increased by 5.5 per cent to HK$17.40 per square foot, according to Knight Frank.