Southeast Asian companies like lender DBS Group Holdings and fast-food chain operator Jollibee and local education institutions are giving Hong Kong’s property market a much-needed boost, fanning hopes the worst of the investment slump may have passed.
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Southeast Asian firms and education firms each contributed around 22 per cent of the total HK$6.28 billion (US$809 million) property investment in Hong Kong in the first three months of the year, according to data compiled by Colliers. The rebound also aided momentum in the leasing segment, the property consultancy added.
Southeast Asian investors’ outlay of HK$1.36 billion in the first quarter was more than four times higher than their investment a year earlier, it said. The education sector accounted for HK$1.39 billion from zero in the same period in 2024.
“We see more transactions happening this year versus last year,” said Thomas Chak, head of capital markets and investment services at Colliers Hong Kong. Supportive government policies and lower interest rates were making property assets appealing again, he added.
Colliers expected the full-year volume to increase 14.3 per cent to HK$40 billion this year, said Chak. Colliers recently managed the HK$650 million sale of Park Aura, a 25-storey Ginza-style commercial building in Tin Hau, to Mike Cai Wengsheng, the co-founder and chairman of Chinese selfie-app firm Meitu.
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