乐风3.1亿购旺角全幢旧楼周佩贤：总投资六亿重建商住项目

市区土地供应缺乏，并成为财团併购目标，其中乐风集团等新近斥资约3.1亿，收购旺角洗衣街全幢旧楼，楼面呎价10406元，将重建为商住项目，总投资额涉逾6亿。

乐风集团创办人及主席周佩贤表示，是次集团与私人财团FoundationII，以约3.1亿收购旺角洗衣街181至183号全幢物业，楼面呎价约10406元。计画重建成1幢22层商住项目，初步计画1至2楼为商铺，楼上则为住宅，总投资金额涉逾6亿。

楼面呎价逾万元

周佩贤续指，项目邻近旧水务署「洗衣街及旺角东站政府用地综合发展计画」，为近年九龙区规划中的焦点建设，落成后将成为全新地标式建筑群，亦会产生协同效应地带动商业、旅游及购物等发展，促使区域大变天，预计将进一步提升该区的发展潜力及价值。

与此同时，集团看好油尖旺区配合西九龙发展区的整体长远发展潜力，认为现时楼市主要由用家刚性需求带动，预期后市气氛将持续向好。同时，集团亦将继续积极吸纳土地储备，包括市区优质商业及住宅地皮。

该项目坐落于旺角东核心地段，拥开扬景观，毗邻大型购物商场。现时为1幢楼高11层的商住物业，楼龄约43年。属「住宅(甲类)」用途，地盘面积约3310方呎，以最高地积比率9倍计算，可建楼面约29790方呎。

可建楼面约2.97万呎

有代理表示，市区具重建价值住宅项目备受瞩目，不论本地或中资发展商或财团，皆看好地段优越、配套成熟的市中心区域。料未来旺角东一带作为本港商业、购物及旅游中心的地位将进一步提升。

(星岛日报)

上环信裕大厦高层连租约叫628万

疫情影响，商厦叫价亦相对回落，反而成为入市好时机，如新近放售的上环信裕大厦高层单位，业主调低叫价近2成，现连租约以约628万元放售。

备来去水位合美容牙医行业

代理指，位于上环文咸西街48号信裕大厦高层A室，面积约825平方呎，现以约628万元放售，平均呎价7,612元，单位将以连租约出售，租期至今年年底。

单位设有来去水位，备美容院装修，适合美容或牙医等行业，租约届满后，租客选择更具弹性。至于单位现时市值呎租约22元，以意向价计，租金回报可达3.5厘。据悉，业主于去年已放盘，当时叫价约780万元，近期因应市况下调叫价，亦持续调整，减幅约2成，期望吸引投资者承接或用家转租为买。

代理指，现时整体写字楼租金持续向下调整，令租金回报受影响，而受制于租务的买卖价亦相应下降，个别业主更趁势套现离场，重整投资组合，如早前金鐘夏愨道18号海富中心1期低层单位，面积约2,625平方呎，业主一直只租不卖，去年11月叫租约每平方呎55元，后因疫情关係，租金叫价一直下调至最近约38元水平，同时，业主亦做足準备，将单位推出市场放售，意向呎价约3.1万元。

代理续指，投资环境未明朗，陆续有业主相继放售物业，且议价空间亦进一步扩大，令市场盘源增多，除了投资者伺机入市外，亦出现租户自置物业，为市场带来另一种商机。

(经济日报)

兴胜葵涌工厦重建城规明审批

活化工厦重建申请陆续获批，兴胜创建(00896)持有的葵涌业成街22号太平洋货运大厦，拟重建成新型工厦，将于周五城规会审批，规划署指不反对有关申请；另外荃湾灰窰角街24至32号工厦重建亦料获「开绿灯」。

兴胜创建持有的葵涌业成街22号太平洋货运大厦，发展商申请将地积比率由9.5倍，增加2成至11.4倍重建，计划兴建成1幢23层高(连两层地库)的新型工厦，涉及楼面约6.53万平方呎。规划署认为，符合活化工厦政策的方向，工厦发展亦跟所在「工业」规划用途协调，故此不反对有关申请。

至于业主就荃湾灰窰角街24至32号工厦，申请重建成1幢22层高新型工厦，亦获规划署不反对，料将会一同在本周五城规会获批准。

(经济日报)

Hong Kong’s office market is hollowing out as vacancy rate hits 10-year high. Who can save the landlords?

Hong Kong’s office landlords are facing the biggest crunch in a decade as rents slide and vacancy rate surges in the city’s notoriously pricey market.

About 1.1 million square feet (102,193 square metres) of space in Central business district would have been vacated by businesses by the end of last month, property agency estimates. Imagine a totally empty HSBC headquarters, or two blocks of One IFC Tower. At 8.5 per cent, the vacancy rate is the highest since December 2009.

From Expedia to Macquarie Bank and the creator of the League of Legends mobile game, companies have trimmed their office demand as Hong Kong lurches from one political crisis to another, along with the impact of widening US-China trade differences.

“Some landlords have finally accepted the fact the sweet old days are over,” property agent said. “They are now willing to cut prices.”

While the sector is fast becoming a tenants’ market, more companies are still expected to bail on their leases, according to a market data provider. On top of the vacancy in Central, they have surrendered 900,000 square feet across the city in the first five months of this year, triple the volume in all of 2019.

The Central business district itself could see a 30 per cent increase in surrender listings over the next three months, an analyst at the Hong Kong-based real estate platform said.

Pressured by leases expiring this year and in 2021, landlords will have no choice but to cut rent sharply to retain them, he added.

Some 25,000 sq ft on the 31st floor of The Center, the world’s most expensive business address, are still on the market since online travel group Expedia began cutting back its operations at the start of the year. Landlords are now willing to consider HK$60 per sq ft for the lot that fetched HK$83 per sq ft in 2018, property agents said.

Riot Games, which develops the League of Legends mobile game, is seeking to sublease its space on the 53rd floor of the same building, said Scott Gelb, chief operating officer of the Tencent unit. Land Registry data indicates it has given up some of the space it signed up in 2019.

“We’re always evaluating space needs at all of our offices and have shifted plans such that we will not need to expand in Hong Kong for the time being,” Gelb told the South China Morning Post. “We will be maintaining our presence on the 51st floor.”

The Cheung Kong Center, owned by Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings, is still looking for takers for about 230,000 sq ft of space, months after they were vacated by its previous tenants. The size amounts to 10 of the 62 floors in the building. Five more floors will be added to the market when the Securities and Futures Commission moves out in August.

Yet, cheaper rents may not be enough to lure tenants, who themselves are battening down the hatches amid the city’s worst recession. Job losses this year have pushed the unemployment rate to near the highest in a decade, too.

At Henderson Land, total rental income across its portfolios – mainly in the office sector including the twin tower known as One International Finance Centre (IFC) – has declined by around 10 per cent in the most recent results.

“Some of our tenants in IFC office towers were considering reducing the size of their offices or ending their leases,” said Martin Lee Ka-shing, co-chairman of Henderson Land told shareholders on Monday. He was probably referring to Macquarie Bank, among them.

In hindsight, some landlords may have regretted not lowering rents fast enough last year to keep their tenants, as the pandemic worsened the market conditions.

“No one has a crystal ball,” property agent said. “They for sure did not expect that the hot market would be hit by the triple whammy of social movement, pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding the US-China relationship. Even with cheaper rents now, it is not easy to find new takers in a short span of time.”

For example, the entire 38th floor and some on the 39th floor in The Center are currently still empty after Goldman Sachs moved out at the end of 2018. In Causeway Bay, Hysan Development has so far failed to find new tenants for two of the five floors in Hysan Place to be vacated by KPMG in the coming weeks.

The pool of companies opening new offices or expanding in Hong Kong is quite small, market observers said. Mainland investors, who pushed the market to dizzying heights in 2008 with their acquisitions, are holding back.

Since anti-government protests broke out a year ago, many have stayed away after being targeted by violent protesters, thus depriving the market of its biggest and powerful benefactors.

The market is now pinning its hopes on Chinese technology companies, as more of them turned away from Wall Street to Hong Kong for stock listings, a consultancy firm said. They include JD.com, NetEase and Baidu Inc.

“But a lot of them already have built a presence with international investors through their listings in the US,” the consultant added. “They do not need an expensive address in Central to build up their image.”

Online payments operator Ant Financial Services said it has signed up for one floor measuring 17,000 square feet in Times Square in Causeway Bay.

It will get worse before it gets better, according to property agent.

“Even buildings with big developer-landlords have seen rents plunging by 15 per cent from the peak in 2018,” the agent said. “Another 10 per cent discount will be offered by the end of this year as everyone is fighting to retain their existing clients.”

(South China Morning Post)

Brochure released for Sea To Sky flats

CK Asset (1113) has released the sales brochure for Sea To Sky in Tseung Kwan O.

The project offers a total of 1,422 units measuring between 434 and 1,077 square feet.

In Ma On Shan, Henderson Land Development (0012) sold a 2,844 sq ft duplex apartment at Double Cove for HK$57.7 million, or HK$20,288 per sq ft, and a 3,112 sq ft duplex apartment at the estate for HK$58.5 million, or HK$18,798 per sq ft.

In the secondary market, a 792 sq ft flat at High Park in Prince Edward changed hands for HK$17.5 million, or HK$22,096 per sq ft, after HK$4.5 million was cut from the original asking price, as the vendor is planning to emigrate.

A 432 sq ft flat at Maritime Bay in Tseung Kwan O changed hands for HK$7.3 million, or HK$16,898 per sq ft, after HK$100,000 was cut from the initial asking price.

In the commercial property market, travel technology company provider Expedia is giving up its 25,000 sq ft office at The Center in Central, two years before the lease is set to expire in June 2022, local media reports. Expedia is currently leasing the office for HK$1.75 million per month.

This came as the company laid off 3,000 workers globally in February as the COVID-19 pandemic brings travel to a standstill.

The Nasdaq-listed firm is one of the largest online travel services providers in the world. Its website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacation packages.

(The Standard)

Wing Tai books HK$1.6b in Tuen Mun project sales

Wing Tai Properties (0369) has generated HK$1.64 billion from the sales of 302 flats at OMA by the Sea in Tuen Mun.

Wing Tai executive director Chung Chi-lam, said the group is considering reducing the discounts.

Chung said the national security law would not impact Hong Kong's housing market, and that home prices would fluctuate by about 10 percent due to a shortage of supply.

He said emigrants may not be willing to sell the properties in Hong Kong as they may miss out on potential returns from rising home prices.

(The Standard)