by winston » Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:59 am
Healthy appetites good for certain landlords
Rental activity involving food and beverage outlets has reached a three-year high to buck the trend of falling interest in shops and less returns for landlords in prime areas, Jones Lang LaSalle has found.
Terence Chan Yiu-fung, head of retail for the services and investment management company, said rental deals related to the food and beverage industry accounted for about 50 percent of leases the firm handled.
Chan expects rents of street-level shops in prime areas to be down 24 percent this year, with a decline of 5-10 percent in 2016. But he thinks rents for outlets in malls will be stable next year with a maximum rise of 5 percent.
Still, he added, the current climate of reduced rents benefit F&B businesses, which are generally less able to bear high rents.
Also checking the state of business, associate director for retailing Michelle Chiu Hoi-yu said some high-end retailers broke leases or sought rent cuts.
She also said F&B has been moving along well, with some chains keen to expand.
An Italian restaurant has set up in 6,000 square feet in Central's California Tower, while a bar chain plans a flagship operation in a 7,440-sq-ft outlet.
The total retail volume in the SAR has fallen 2.7 percent this year, said Mavis Hui Ming-wai, a retail analyst at DBS Vickers (Hong Kong), and she expects a further drop of 3 percent next year. She sees rents of street- level shops set to tumble at least 30 percent.
As for catering service providers, business has been disappointing and is not likely to improve next year, China F&B analyst Alice Hui Sze-man said.
Source: The Standard HK
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"