Concrete Analysis | Greater Bay Area to support Hong Kong’s office market in areas beyond central business district

Broadly speaking, the vision for the bay area plan is to further integrate the nine largest cities in Guangdong province with Hong Kong and Macau to establish an economic bloc.

The removal of barriers that limit the movement of trade, capital, information and people will allow various industries to flourish. Although specific details of the implementation of the plan have been patchy thus far, the latest outline has provided some clarity on the range of policies that are likely to be pursued.

For Hong Kong, the plan is to build on the city’s role as the key regional financial hub and for it to continue to act as a conduit between international capital markets, the bay area and the rest of China. It will remain a hub for ­professional services, transport, trade and aviation. The plan ­specifically identifies the city as a legal and dispute resolution ­centre for the Asia-Pacific and highlights the part it will play in the Belt and Road Initiative.

A broader economy will naturally provide plenty of oppor­tunities for businesses to grow. Hong Kong’s financial and professional services sectors stand to directly benefit from the government’s plans to widen market ­access while promulgating supply-side structural economic ­reforms. In turn, this will directly translate into stronger demand for office space: mainland firms should continue to grow as they look to expand globally, while non-mainland firms can benefit from the improved market access that the bay area plan will bring.

With an increasing number of companies from the financial, ­insurance, real estate and business services sectors – more commonly referred to as FIREBS – moving their offices into areas ­beyond the city’s traditional central business district, decentralised office markets such as Hong Kong East, Kowloon East and Wong Chuk Hang are likely to benefit the most from this growing share of the business pie.