Office rents in Hong Kong’s Central district are expected to rise faster in the second quarter of the year, according to analysts, a reversal of a multi-year slump that began in the second half of 2019.The latest forecast was made by US bank Citi, which said premium offices in the city’s main business zone had seen rents rise 1.7 per cent from a trough in October, with room for further increments between the second half this year and 2027.“Lease negotiation dynamics had started to favour landlords since the fourth quarter of 2025 and strengthening into 2026,” Citi property analysts Griffin Chan and Cindy Li said in a report released on Wednesday.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS111
ENT6
WED · 2026-05-13 · 23:00 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0514-76075
NSR-2026-0514-76075News Report·EN·Economic Impact
Hong Kong’s Central office rents set to reverse multi-year slump with gains in second half
Hong Kong's Central district is poised for a rebound in office rents, reversing a multi-year downturn that started in late 2019. Analysts from US bank Citi predict accelerated rent increases in the second quarter of this year, with further gains anticipated between the latter half of 2026 and 2027.
Cheryl ArcibalSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-05-13 · 23:00 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
111words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
6entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
Hong Kong's Central district is poised for a rebound in office rents, reversing a multi-year downturn that started in late 2019. Analysts from US bank Citi predict accelerated rent increases in the second quarter of this year, with further gains anticipated between the latter half of 2026 and 2027. Premium office spaces in the prime business zone have already seen a 1.7% rise since their low point in October. Citi property analysts attribute this shift to changing lease negotiation dynamics that began favoring landlords in the fourth quarter of 2025 and are expected to strengthen.
Confidence 0.85Sources 1Claims 4Entities 6
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Economic Impact
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.80 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
4 extracted01
Office rents in Hong Kong’s Central district have seen a multi-year slump that began in the second half of 2019.
factual
Confidence
1.00
02
Premium offices in Hong Kong’s Central district have seen rents rise 1.7 per cent from a trough in October.
statisticCiti
Confidence
0.90
03
Lease negotiation dynamics have started to favour landlords since the fourth quarter of 2025 and strengthening into 2026.
predictionCiti property analysts Griffin Chan and Cindy Li
Confidence
0.80
04
Hong Kong’s Central office rents are expected to rise faster in the second quarter of the year.
predictionanalysts
Confidence
0.70
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 111 words§ 05
Entities
6 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
Organizations1
§ 06
Keywords & salience
7 termsoffice rents
1.00
hong kong central
0.90
rental market
0.80
property market
0.70
lease negotiation
0.60
landlords
0.50
citi
0.40
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Topic connections
Interactive graph Network visualization showing 51 related topics
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