Retailers have been opening new shops and expanding in Hong Kong, bringing the city’s empty commercial space to a three-year low of 9 per cent in the second quarter, according to the latest report by Cushman & Wakefield.
However, the recovery of the sector after three disastrous years of sales diminished by the Covid-19 pandemic faces a challenge: while the number of visitors – particularly mainland Chinese – to Hong Kong has been increasing, more Hongkongers have been travelling outside the city, shifting their purchasing power elsewhere, the property consultancy said.
“We have seen that following the border reopening, the travel outflow of locals is greater than the inflow of tourists to Hong Kong, which could diminish some local consumption power,” said Rosanna Tang, executive director and head of research in Hong Kong at Cushman.
“As a result, the retail market during the long holidays such as Labour Day and the Buddha’s Birthday holiday periods was not as active as the market has hoped-for.”
A V-shaped recovery or a sharp upswing in the retail property market is unlikely, the report said.
The retail segment was one of the hardest hit in Hong Kong after the unprecedented social unrest of 2019 was immediately followed by the coronavirus pandemic.
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