Central vacancies hit 10-year high

Office vacancy rates in Central rose to 8.5 percent, the highest since December 2009, according to CBRE, yet two mainland tech giants took up office space in Hong Kong, even though the pandemic has prompted some banks to consider scaling back in the world's most expensive office market.

CBRE estimates that nearly 1.1 million square meters of office space was given up by enterprises as of the end of May, an area equal to the total area HSBC's (0005) Hong Kong headquarters, HSBC Main Building.

Meanwhile, TikTok owner ByteDance took out a three-year lease on about 3,000 sq ft of space in Causeway Bay's Times Square and Alibaba (9988) signed up for one more floor spanning approximately 17,000 sq ft in the same building.

Alibaba currently leases three floors and a dozen more units.