Office rents rise 0.4% as Central’s prime towers near full occupancy

537,000 sq ft net absorption marks gradual recovery.

The region’s Grade A office leasing market showed a gradual recovery, as a net absorption of 537,000 sq ft was recorded in December 2025, marking the ninth consecutive month of expansion, according to JLL’s Hong Kong Monthly Market Dynamics.

Overall office rents rose 0.4% on a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, continuing the upward momentum observed in November.

Central recorded a 0.6% m-o-m marginal increase in rents, whilst Wanchai/Causeway Bay saw a modest rebound of 0.4%, the report said.

“Top-tier office buildings in Central are particularly active, and we expect other premium buildings in the district to benefit from spillover demand in the second half of the year, as a number of prime towers are now close to full occupancy,” said Alex Barnes, Managing Director of JLL in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

The report cited that Marketing Store Worldwide (Asia) leased an entire low-zone floor at K11 ATELIER King’s Road in Quarry Bay—totalling 20,400 sq ft of gross floor area—as one of the notable transactions during the period.

“The overall office vacancy rate edged up to 14.1% at end-December, reflecting the continued abundance of available space in the entire market. Central, Tsim Sha Tsui and Hong Kong East each recorded a modest m-o-m increase of 0.1 percentage points. For full-year 2025, vacancy in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui tightened by 0.6 percentage points and 1.7 percentage points year-on-year, respectively,” said Cathie Chung, Senior Director of Research at JLL.