Empty premium office space — or the so-called Grade-A stock — has almost tripled in three years to an all-time high of a combined 11.9 million square feet (1.1 million square meters) as of October, according to CBRE Group Inc.
At Cheung Kong Center, a skyscraper owned by billionaire-developer Li Ka-shing, vacancy surged to 21% in September, from just 5.4% in mid-2020, according to Midland IC&I Ltd.
Though commercial-property slump is a global phenomenon after the pandemic ushered in the remote-work era, the record vacancy rates in Hong Kong point to other woes plaguing the world’s most expensive market.
Lingering Covid curbs — unseen in cities like New York or Singapore — and a sealed border with China have effectively turned off demand from foreign companies and mainland firms. The prolonged weakness has started to hurt even top-tier towers that usually remain immune to downturns.
Almost 5% of International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong’s tallest building that’s home to Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank AG, is empty, up from 1% in mid-2020.
Central Plaza, a high-end building in the Wan Chai area popular with consulates and financial firms, had 9.4% of its space vacant, versus 3.2%.
