Assessment of office market in Hong Kong decentralized district versus CBD: Boom and gloom

Office decentralization has been developing rapidly in Hong Kong since the early 1980s. Office tenants relocated their businesses to the Decentralized District (DD) with the benefits of lower rent, higher flexibility of space use and better supporting facilities. This study examines office decentralization in Hong Kong's office market, both the upturn and downturn. It analyzes the vacancy trend of the Grade A office market in Hong Kong: DD versus Central Business District (CBD), based on a Decentralization Index. This study found that the CBD is a more stable office market sector than the non‐CBD. During a market upturn, the Grade A office market in Hong Kong DD has outperformed that in the CBD. However, during a market downturn, the vacancy rate in the DD tends to increase at a greater rate than that in the CBD. The study also found that periods with a sufficiently high index of decentralization generally experienced increases in CBD rent premiums.