- Hong Kong housing rents are rising again as overseas workers return, a recovery that contrasts with the cooling market in rival financial hub Singapore.
The push to reverse a brain drain of talent during the pandemic is encouraging new arrivals to target Hong Kong neighbourhoods popular with professionals, such as Soho and Kennedy Town. In comparable districts in Singapore, growth rates are now about half that as stellar figures from previous years give way to relatively lacklustre increases.
Hong Kong rents remain on average about 9 per cent more expensive than Singapore’s, according to Knight Frank data. Hong Kong’s seen its strongest rental market since July 2018, said James Fisher, chief operating officer at real estate platform Spacious.hk, who expects rents to rise another 2 per cent to 3 per cent by the end of this year. Bloomberg Intelligence forecasts vacancy rates in residential units there to fall by December.
Soho led the growth with a 5.5 per cent increase from the first quarter, while Kennedy Town saw a 4.7 per cent rise. In areas such as Repulse Bay, the beachside neighborhood favored by wealthy families, the lift was more muted.In Singapore, rental growth across mass-market to high-end apartments largely moderated between 1 per cent and 3 per cent last quarter, easing notably from increments of at least 9 per cent recorded in the first quarter, according to Knight Frank data.