HONG KONG – Private domestic property development in Hong Kong witnessed a steady uptick in completion in 2024, with a 10 percent higher take-up rate than in the previous year and 4.5 percent vacancy at year-end, government data showed on Friday.

According to preliminary findings of the Rating and Valuation Department’s annual review of the supply and activities in the local property market, private domestic property – which excludes flats built under the Home Ownership, Private Sector Participation, Buy or Rent Option, Tenants Purchase, Urban Improvement, Flat-For-Sale and Sandwich Class Housing Schemes, etc – completions last year soared to 24,260 units, 75 percent more than those in 2023.

Take-up, which represents the net increase in the number of occupied units or floor area, in 2024 was 17,310 units.

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The preliminary findings cover the completions, take-up and vacancy of major private property types in 2024, forecast completions in 2025 and 2026, as well as price and rental data.

The New Territories had the highest completion rate last year with 48 percent completions, while Kowloon 45 percent, and Hong Kong Island 7 percent. At the district level, Kowloon City was the top supplier, followed by Yuen Long and Tuen Mun, altogether accounting for 66 percent of the overall completions.

Vacancy, signifying the number of units or floor area not physically occupied, at the end of 2024, was equivalent to 57,900 units.

Among the vacant units, about 14,260 units did not yet receive Certificate of Compliance or Consent to Assign after obtaining the Occupation Permit.

For 2025 and 2026, the Rating and Valuation Department forecast completions 20,860 and 20,100 private domestic property units, respectively.

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In 2025, 46 percent of the completions are expected from Kowloon, while the New Territories will be the major supplier, providing 69 percent of the total completions in 2026.

The domestic sales market saw a short-lived impetus in the first quarter of 2024, thanks to the cancellation of all demand-side management measures, but prices started falling again thereafter. The market was stabilized in Q4 following a number of interest rate cuts together with the adjustments to the maximum loan-to-value ratio and the debt servicing ratio limit.

“Buoyed by the influx of talents arising from various talent admission schemes implemented by the government and a shifting trend from home purchase to leasing, the rental market outperformed the sales market with rents registering a year-on-year growth of 3.3 percent by December 2024,” the Rating and Valuation Department said.

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Also, private office completions decreased slightly to 147,000 m2 in 2024, with the vast majority being Grade A completions equivalent to 146,000 m2. There were no Grade B completions in 2024 and only an insignificant amount of Grade C completions of about 1,000 m2, the data showed.

Completions of commercial premises also declined to 69,000 m2 last year from 2023, with Kowloon and Hong Kong Island altogether contributing the vast majority of completions at 90 percent.