〈The Standard, Aug 26, 2022〉More owners of luxury homes turned to leasing their properties from selling in July as potential buyers are waiting for a larger price reduction amid interest rate rises and Sino-US tensions.

The prime houses in Kowloon Tong and Ho Man Tin recorded a 20 percent rise in the rental market to 209 deals in July, marking a record high since January 2021, said Hong Kong Property Services.

The real-estate agent attributed the increase to the cooling secondary market as potential home buyers were asking for a 10 percent price reduction compared to 2 to 3 percent two months ago, driving about 30 percent of homeowners in Kowloon Tong and Ho Man Tin into shifting to the rental market.

With more homes to be leased, rents declined about 2 percent.

〈Hong Kong Business, Aug 25, 2022〉Hong Kong’s export performance will continue to decline amidst a worsening external environment and continued disruptions to cross-boundary land transportation, a government spokesman revealed.

“Exports to the Mainland, the US and the EU showed widened declines, while those to other major Asian markets saw a mixed performance,” the government official said.

In the latest report by Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the values of Hong Kong’s total exports and imports of goods were both recorded year-on-year (YoY) decreased in July, at 8.9% and 9.9% respectively.

The total value of exports of goods went down to $379.6b in July, a decrease of 6.4% compared to June 2022. Imports, meanwhile, decreased to $407.2b last month, a 0.5% YoY decrease compared to June 2022.

〈Hong Kong Business, Aug 24, 2022〉As several sizable spaces became available due to the traditional low season, overall Grade A office vacancy climbed to 9.6% in July.

According to JLL, vacancy rates also edged up in all sub-markets, except in Kowloon East, where vacancy slightly dropped to 12.6% from 12.8% in June.

In Central, Wanchai, Hong Kong East, and Tsimshatsui vacancy rose from 7.9% to 8.2%, 9.0% to 9.5%, 8.9% to 9.0%, and 10.2% to 11.1%, respectively.

In the next few months, JLL said leasing activities will likely improve. The expert added that if quarantine measures are removed completely, there will be a breakthrough demand in the office leasing market.

Meanwhile, the Grade A office market recorded net absorption of 217,000 sq ft in July, declining 0.1% MoM, due to the completion of a government building in Kai Tak.

〈Asian Post, Aug 23, 2022〉Experts no longer expect Hong Kong's economy to expand by 1.3% in 2022 after GDP contracted by 2.6% YoY in 1H22.

UOB now forecast that the city's full-year GDP will contract by 0.7% YoY.

Apart from the decline in the 1H22 GDP, UOB said it also considered the deteriorating external environment when it downgraded its forecast for Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong’s economy is not out of the woods yet. Despite a shortened mandatory quarantine, the recovery in tourism is expected to remain weak in 2H22," said UOB.

"Private consumption may receive a temporary boost from Phase II of the consumption vouchers disbursement in August, but overall demand will be dampened by rising interest rates and uncertainties in the Mainland," the expert added.

〈The Standard, Aug 22, 2022〉More homeowners suffered losses early this month after offloading new homes bought just a few years ago as interest rate rises saw a willingness to accept price reductions.

The secondary market saw in the first 10 days of the month about 20 homes sold off at prices lower than those that the owners had paid for them just three or four years ago, with the losses ranging from1 percent to 17 percent.

A home at Mantin Heights in Ho Man Tin saw the biggest loss.

A high-rise 1,562-sq-ft apartment at Clovelly Court in Mid-Levels Central saw an 8 percent fall in rent to HK$80,000 per month, 2 percent lower than the market price.

Martin Wong Shiu-kei, director and head of research and consultancy of Greater China at Knight Frank, said that the demand for luxury home rentals decreased as multinational companies moved the non-core segments of their business to other regions and some staff left Hong Kong.