'High Street Shop Rents Could Go Up By Up To 8pc'

Real estate services firms say they expect local shop rents to go up in the coming months, as Hong Kong’s tourism and retail sectors continue to recover.

One of the firms, Cushman and Wakefield, said retail revenues for the first two months of this year have soared 17 percent from the same period last year, thanks to the city’s full border reopening.

Its head of retail services, Kevin Lam, said he’s expecting a three-to-eight percent increase in high street rents in the first half of this year.

"If we look at the number of tourist arrivals, the [current] total number is just slightly over 20 percent compared with pre-Covid level. That means there is a big room for further improvement," he said, noting however that many retailers are still adopting a cautious approach when it comes to expanding their business.

Another real estate company, Colliers, is also predicting an eight-percent growth in high street rentals this year.