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Luxury home rents ‘may fall by up to 15 per cent’ as Hong Kong’s strict zero-Covid policy sends expats packing
- Luxury home rents may fall by as much as 15 per cent this year as unhappy expats continue to leave in droves, say analysts
- The city is approaching ‘peak exodus’, with expats ‘moving either back to their own countries or to Singapore’, says Savills
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Luxury home rents in Hong Kong may fall by as much as 15 per cent this year as expatriates keen to escape the city’s strict zero-Covid-19 policy continue to leave in droves, said analysts.
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In the first quarter of 2022, rents for high-end houses and flats fell between 2.6 per cent and 4 per cent, with those in Kowloon and the New Territories seeing the biggest declines, according to property consultancy Savills.
The decline could have been far steeper, as many landlords held off from accepting lower offers. But this quarter, depending on how Hong Kong moves forward with its quarantine and travel regulations, is likely to provide a clearer picture of how the luxury market fares for the rest of the year.
“The luxury residential leasing market has been very quiet over the first quarter as expats were faced with yet more disruption to their personal and professional lives after a fifth wave of Covid-19 hit the city and the government responded with a range of exceptionally strict measures,” a Savills report released on Tuesday night said.
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“We believe that March/April will probably see ‘peak exodus’, with expats moving either back to their own countries or to Singapore in a collective loss of patience at anti-pandemic measures.”
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