The prime office rents in Hong Kong may go down further by 26 percent this year as the worldwide financial crisis triggered investment companies and banks to control expenses, according to Colliers International.
Yesterday, Colliers said in its report, “The prime office market is predicted to experience a further downward adjustment due to the consolidation of the financial markets and the global economic outlook.” Office rents went down 13.4 percent during the fourth quarter, the company added.
Banks such as the Standard Chartered and HSBC Holdings Plc and have reduced employments in Hong Kong since 2003, as the economy came into its first downturn. In November, HSBC said that it lessened 500 jobs all over Asia and 90 percent in Hong Kong. In December, Standard Chartered said it would also lessen 200 jobs.
The report, involving 26 different places in Asia Pacific, revealed that office rents in the area declined 4 percent on the average during the fourth quarter. This report was sent through email and was posted on the Web site of Colliers.
”Individual centres with a tenant profile highly geared toward the financial sector have experienced steeper rental corrections in the order of over 10 percent quarter-on-quarter,” said Colliers.
The last recession of Hong Kong was prompted by the epidemic called the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS in the year 2003.
A survey conducted by DTZ one month ago revealed that Moscow commanded the most costly office rents in the world in the previous year, a yearly average of US$255.60 per square foot. The second placer was the London West End, at US$186.20, and Hong Kong at the third place, at US$185.20 per square foot.