Savills World Research

Briefi ng Residential leasing July 2016

Image: The Babington, Mid-Levels West SUMMARY Mainlanders are having more of an impact on the upper-end leasing market than at any time.

Vacancies in the luxury apartment Housing budgets in the banking, segment remain low and budgets of insurance and legal industries are 40% "Luxury rents were broadly HK$40,000 to HK$100,000 per month below what they were at the peak in are most active. 2012 and if anything, the tendency is stable in the second quarter still to downsize. We have noticed a shift in tenant despite a lack of traditional profi les over the past few months We saw a 0.3% rise in demand from MNCs and as Mainlanders who have recently rents but a 1.0% fall in rents in the obtained Hong Kong ID cards look for . banks." Simon Smith, Savills Research top end apartments to rent. We witnessed a stronger Luxury apartment and townhouse downward pressure on rents in the rents remained stable over Q2/2016, lower-end segment of the serviced despite a lack of traditional demand apartment market. from senior executives of MNCs and banks.

savills.com.hk/research 01 Briefi ng | Hong Kong residential leasing July 2016

Market commentary GRAPH 1 Vacancies in the luxury apartment luxury rental indices by district, segment remain low and budgets of Q1/2003–Q2/2016 HK$40,000 to HK$100,000 per month are most active. We have, however, Mid-Levels Pokfulam The Peak Happy Valley/Jardine's Lookout Southside/Shouson Hill 300 noticed a shift in tenant profi les over recent months as Mainlanders who have recently obtained Hong 250 Kong ID cards look for top end apartments to rent. Many of these 200 tenants would have moved to Hong Kong 7 years ago and are typically 150 wealthy professionals or business Q1/2003=100 owners rather than bank employees. 100 Their focus is on buildings owned by corporate landlords such as Kerry, 50 Sun Hung Kai and Eton in areas such as Mid-levels and Southside. Most will 0 already own an apartment but require Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 more space. As rents can often be 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 deducted as a business expense Source: Savills Research & Consultancy

TABLE 1 Mid-Levels, The Peak and Southside transactions, Q2/2016

Saleable area HK$ per month HK$ per sq ft District Unit Address (sq ft) (incl. mgnt. & rates) saleable

The Peak Apartment Villa Verde 2,612 100,000 38

The Peak House Severn 8 3,092 280,000 91

Mid-Levels Apartment Serenade 1,170 58,000 50

Mid-Levels Apartment Azura 1,292 75,000 58

Southside Apartment Pine Lodge 2,496 138,000 55

Southside House Regalia Bay 3,034 138,000 45

Source: Savills Residential Leasing, Savills Research & Consultancy

TABLE 2 Kowloon transactions, Q2/2016

Saleable area HK$ per month HK$ per sq ft District Unit Address (sq ft) (incl. mgnt. & rates) saleable

Tsim Sha Tsui Apartment The Masterpiece 2,259 110,000 49

Tsim Sha Tsui Apartment The 920 38,000 41

Kowloon Station Apartment 712 36,000 51

Kowloon Station Apartment The Arch 844 38,000 45

Kowloon Station Apartment Grand Austin 1,474 67,300 46

Kowloon Station Apartment The Waterfront 1,076 43,000 40

Kowloon Station Apartment The Austin 899 33,000 37

Source: Savills Residential Leasing, Savills Research & Consultancy

savills.com.hk/research 02 Briefi ng | Hong Kong residential leasing July 2016

and luxury prices are beyond the GRAPH 2 reach of many, the lure of the leasing Townhouse rental indices by district, Q1/2003–Q2/2016 market seems obvious. As a result luxury apartment and townhouse rents remained stable over Q2/2016, despite Peak Southside a lack of traditional demand from 200 senior executives of MNCs and banks. 180 160 Among the more traditional luxury 140 tenants (insurance, banking and legal 120 staff) we are seeing little movement 100 with minimal inbound traffi c. Housing 80

budgets in these industries are 40 Q1/2003=100 60 per cent below what they were and 40 if anything, the tendency is still to downsize. The good news is that 20 0 school places are easier to come by Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 above Primary One, partly due to the 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 opening of more schools such as Source: Savills Research & Consultancy American School in Tai Po and Nord Anglia in Lam Tin, while other schools GRAPH 3 are expanding including the Hong Kong International School and the Kowloon and New Territories luxury apartment rental indices by French International School. district, Q1/2003 – Q2/2016

Tsim Sha Tsui / Hung Hom Ho Man Tin / Kowloon Tong Discovery Bay Sai Kung Shatin / Tai Po On the other side of the harbour, 200 luxury rents are rising around Kowloon Station. While this is not an area of 180 the market we cover, we note that rents for smaller units of 300 to 400 160 sq ft (c. HK$25,000 per month) are 140 falling as abundant supply hits the 120 market including High Park and Q1/2003 = 100 Grand Austin. However rents in the 100 New Territories have softened due to slow take-up of units from projects 80 completed in recent years such as 60 Mayfair by The Sea, Mont Vert and Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Dragon Range. We saw a 0.3% rise 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 in Kowloon rents but a 1.0% fall in Source: Savills Research & Consultancy rents in the New Territories.

TABLE 3 New Territories transactions, Q2/2016

Saleable area HK$ per month HK$ per sq ft District Unit Address (sq ft) (incl. mgnt. & rates) saleable

Sai Kung House Wing Lung Road 2,100 69,000 33

Sai Kung House Country Villa 2,100 65,000 31

Discovery Bay House Bijou Hamlet 1,556 107,000 69

Discovery Bay House Seabee Lane 1,406 67,300 48

Discovery Bay Apartment Parkland Drive 1,103 60,000 54

Discovery Bay Apartment Skyline Mansion 957 26,000 27

Discovery Bay Apartment Glamour Court 776 30,000 39

Source: Savills Residential Leasing, Savills Research & Consultancy

savills.com.hk/research 03 Briefi ng | Hong Kong residential leasing July 2016

TABLE 4 Luxury apartment rental movements by district, Q1/2016 and Q2/2016

Q1/2016 (%) Q2/2016 (%)

Hong Kong Island -0.9 0.0

Tsim Sha Tsui/Hung Hom -5.7 +0.2

Ho Man Tin/Kowloon Tong -6.2 +0.5

Kowloon -5.8 +0.3

Discovery Bay -0.8 -1.7

Sai Kung -5.4 -1.2

Shatin/Tai Po -3.2 +1.3

New Territories -3.3 -1.0

Source: Savills Research & Consultancy

GRAPH 4 Serviced apartment rents declined Serviced apartment rental indices, Q1/2003–Q2/2016 by 0.2% in Q2/2016 while the occupancy rate rebounded slightly Hotel-like Apartment-like to 81.3% in Q2 from 81.1% in 190 the previous quarter. Although we

170 witnessed a stronger downward pressure on rents in the lower-end 150 segment, evidenced by some long-

130 stay hotels in Kowloon and the New Territories offering various kinds of

Q1/2003 = 100 110 promotional package such as waiver

90 of deposit payments, free room upgrades for a leasing of more than 70 60 days and cash rebates, rents in

50 the upper segment have been less Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 affected due to the presence of a 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 more resilient demand base.  Source: Savills Research & Consultancy

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Edina Wong Simon Smith Ron Mak Senior Director Senior Director, Asia Pacifi c Manager +852 2842 4283 +852 2842 4573 +852 2842 4287 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

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