A number of prominent real estate services groups are reporting robust demand for office space in Hong Kong, as a range of businesses look to strengthen their position in what is an increasingly important strategic location.
Knight Frank and Savills revealed recently that a company called Excel Fine Holdings had bought a floor of office space at 99 Queen’s Road Central in downtown Hong Kong for a record HK$25,581 (US$3,300) per square foot.
According to data from CB Richard Ellis released earlier this year, the costs of occupying office space in Hong Kong are higher than anywhere else in the world, except London’s West End.
Financial services firms are among the businesses most keen to establish a sizeable presence in Hong Kong, with the economic recovery boosting prime office rents across the city and both HSBC and Barclays expanding in the region in recent months.
“The low interest rate and hot money situation in Hong Kong mean the robust trend will continue in the office property sector,” Dominic Chung, a senior director of investment properties at CB Richard Ellis, told Bloomberg.
A report from DTZ earlier this month suggested that demand for office space to rent in central London is increasing, with the financial districts proving particularly sought-after.
The UK capital was also recently rated the best city in the world in which to do business by Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial property company.
Editor’s notes: An article released in April 2023 stated that the office space vacancy rate across Hong Kong stood at 14.4 per cent in 2022, which was the highest it had been since 1998.
Social unrest in 2019, followed by the effects of the pandemic from 2020, created great pressure for the Hong Kong office market.
However, agents across the market felt that the depressed office rental market was showing signs of bottoming out.
Since the border with mainland China had reopened, office leasing enquiries increased significantly.
The increased activity indicated that rental levels may rise by up to 5 per cent over 2023 from their current levels of HK$109 per square foot per month in Prime Central Hong Kong and HK$55 per square foot in Wanchai and Causeway Bay.
JLL reported in May 2026 that total net absorption in the Hong Kong office market reached 614,300 square feet, down 59.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter. However, this was from the elevated base in Q4 2025, in which multiple office schemes were completed.
It was also reported that demand from the financial sector remained robust, pushing Central vacancy rates to their lowest level since 2023. The overall vacancy rate in the Hong Kong office market was 13.5 per cent in the first quarter.
The banking sector remained a key driver of leasing activity, as reflected in Standard Chartered Bank’s acquisition of 21,400 square feet at One Causeway Bay and Rabobank’s leasing of 15,600 square feet at One IGC in West Kowloon.
Office rents in Hong Kong in Q1 had grown 1.5 per cent quarter on quarter, equating to 4.1 per cent year on year.
In June 2026, we reported that the international educational services company Kaplan had moved its Asian office from Hong Kong to Singapore.