Hong Kong retail rents down sharply in the third quarter

Lower rental rates soon: Pedestrians walking past shuttered stores during a protest in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong on Sunday. Overall high street rents are likely to decline by 5%-10% over the remainder of the year, property consultancy CBRE says. — Bloomberg

HONG KONG: Retail rents in Hong Kong, among the most expensive in the world, fell sharply in the third quarter, property consultancy CBRE said following anti-government protests that have pushed shop sales to a record low.

High street retail rents fell by 10.5% in the July-September quarter compared to the previous quarter, CBRE said, the sharpest quarterly decline since the first quarter of 1998 at the time of the Asian financial crisis.