Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying suggests lowering the rents of commercial properties in the city to stem the 40-year high vacancy rate from further climbing.

By the end of 2024, the total vacant floor area of private commercial buildings, namely retail buildings and other buildings designed or converted for commercial use but excluding buildings used exclusively for offices, reached nearly 1.4 million square meters.

The empty space represents a vacancy rate of 11.8 percent, which is a record high in the past 40 years of record keeping. 

For comparison, the vacancy rate of private residential units in Hong Kong was 4.5 percent.

Leung, disclaiming that no conflict of interest in the commerical property sector, wrote in his social media account that people have to attach importance to this phenomenon because it is a great pain to owners, tenants and banks, and it is also an opportunity for reform.

He thinks rents per square foot could decrease, allowing tenants to lease a larger area at the same rent, thus reducing the density of utilization and improving the business environment.

Leung attributed some bad experiences of customers in Hong Kong restaurants to the too-high rents.

He also warned that the property owners and tenants will be harmed in the end if the landlords do not give up their mentality of being a dominating force in the past.