〈The Standard, Sept 17, 2022〉More homeowners sold flats held for more than two decades to avoid losses amid concerns over more interest rate rises ahead and a hot primary property market.

The secondary market recorded at least 61 transactions in July and August from owners who purchased the property more than 25 years ago, with profit growth of 1.1 to 36 times, agencies said.

Among the cases, the biggest value increase comes from a unit of Healthy Gardens in North Point.

The owner sold the two-bedroom flat, with a rooftop, for HK$8.28 million, gaining 36 times more after buying it 43 years ago for just HK$223,000. The per-square-foot price of HK$18,158 is about market level.

〈The Standard, Sept 16, 2022〉With the supply of residential land in Hong Kong shrinking in recent years, many developers have stepped up their acquisitions of old buildings to increase their land reserves.

The Lands Tribunal says 16 applications for compulsory sales of old buildings have been received so far this year, matching the 16 applications lodged for the whole of last year.

The total market valuation of the properties sought in the 16 applications lodged this year is HK$11.44 billion, a record high in nearly two years, compared with the total market valuation of HK$3.77 billion for the whole of last year.

The market valuation of the 16 buildings ranged from HK$15.4 million to HK$4.51 billion.

〈Hong Kong Business, Sept 14, 2022〉From 2019 to 2022, the space occupied by Grade A offices was cut by 3.1% or 2.3m square feet (sq ft), research by CBRE showed.

The drop was due to the downsizing of 948 companies or 9.5% of all Grade A office occupiers.

CBRE said office space occupied by the retail and wholesale, logistics and trading industry had the biggest decline, dropping 1.2 million sq ft. or 10.4% within three years.

The legal and professional services industry also cut office space by 8.0% or 0.5 million sq ft, whilst the IT, Tech and telecom sectors downsized by 6.3% or 0.3 million sq ft.

The overall decline in occupied office space has also pushed vacancy to set a new record high of 9.6 million sq. ft in March 2022 and further reached 11.3 million sq. ft. in August 2022.

〈Asian Post, Sept 13, 2022〉Whilst CBRE expects growth in office space demand from multinationals and Chinese enterprises following the relaxation of travel restrictions, the property expert said it will only grow at a rate of no less than 770,000 square feet per annum.

"This was the annual level registered in the three-year period between 2016 and 2018 when cross-border travel was unrestricted," CBRE explained.

Thus, CBRE said the overall growth of office space demand will only be "gradual and moderate."

Across industries, CBRE sees office demand growth in wealth management, healthcare and medical, tech and telecom, construction, co-working centres and retail in the next three years.

“The pandemic has transformed our life and more people value work-life balance and flexible work arrangements. We are seeing workplace strategies will continue to evolve while both landlords and occupiers will place a high emphasis on ESG and wellness," said Ada Fung, executive director and head of Advisory and Transaction Services – Office Services at CBRE Hong Kong.

〈Asian Post, Sept 13, 2022〉August marked higher sales for the property segment, with 5,238 building units sold.

According to the Land Registry, the total sale for August was 4.8% higher than July's but 33.5% lower compared to the same period last year.

Of those sold, 4,137 were residential units. The number of sold residential units was up 12.7% from July, but 25.4% lower than a year ago.

Whilst the number of sold residential units saw an uptick, the total consideration dipped in July, decreasing 4.1% MoM and 40.4% YoY to $32.5b.

Overall, total considerations for all properties sold during the month still rose 118.4% MoM and 30% YoY to $91.6b.