Condo rents up 4.2% in October

CCR rents took the lead as it grew 6.3%.

Condo rentals rose 4.2% YoY in October compared to a year earlier as rents in the three regions recorded growth, according to SRX Property.

The figure is led by a 6.3% YoY rental increase in the Core Central Region (CCR), 4% raise in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and a 2.8% rental growth in the Outside Central egion (OCR).

Meanwhile, rent volumes slipped 4% YoY to 4,341 units in October from 4,378 units in September. The report noted that October’s figures are still 12% higher than the 5-year average volume for the month of October.

OCR accounted for 39.3% of the total volume, 31.9% is from RCR, whilst the remaining 28.8% is from the CCR.

“The decline in rental volume may be seasonal as leasing demand usually falls during the last quarter of the year as most expatriates would have renewed or signed new leasing contracts by now,” said Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie.

On a monthly basis, rental prices shrank 0.2% in October whilst volumes dipped 0.8% MoM compared to the previous month.

This is the third consecutive month of rental volumes shrinking, although this could merely be a seasonal effect, according to OrangeTee & Tie.

Leasing demand may also have weakened, Sun added, on the back of the weakening employment outlook for Q4 as many firms have indicated that they will be cutting back on hiring amid the current trade conflicts and global economic uncertainty.

Sun also noted that the private rental market may register gains from multinational corporations possibly redirecting their Hong Kong staff to Singapore, or even shifting their headquarters to the island. Hong Kong has been plagued with growing social unrest since July, which has severely impacted the city’s consumer spending and dented business confidence. 

On the other hand, HDB rents inched up 1.4% YoY. All room types increased on a yearly basis except for executive rents which decrease by 0.6%: three-room rents were up by 0.9% YoY, four-room by 1.3% YoY and five-room by 1.7% YoY.

Rents of mature estates and non-mature estates rose by 1.3% YoY.

HDB rental volumes decreased 9.6% YoY to 1,830 units in October, a 4.3% MoM decrease compared to the 1,913 units leased in September.

Volumes were also 1.4% lower than the five-year average volume for the month of October.

By room type, 32.4% of total rental volume came from three-room, 34.1% from four-room, 26.8% from five-Room and the remaining 6.7% from executive.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.