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Along with the improving COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong and the return to normal economic activity, market sentiment has improved, with a higher level of leasing activity in the office market. Most of the new leases in Central were premises of no more than 10,000 sq ft, while isolated new leases of larger areas were found outside the CBD area. With no quick escape in sight for COVID-ravaged economies, many tenants continued to look for costsaving solutions, which include rental abatement, rental deferment or lease restructuring to ease their financial pressure. But rental reductions were seen mainly for office tenants with a retail presence and were implemented only on a case-by-case basis.

COVID-19 impacts are being felt across the REIT space. However, sectors will be impacted differently by both COVID-19 itself and the behaviors and measures that will be taken to address the outbreak. While at the time of this writing, REITs are likely oversold, pricing in the REIT market is diverging between property types, which could point to the future direction of private market values.

Please find the constituent changes to the GPR/APREA Indices, which will become effective as of 22 June 2020 (start of trading). 

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought much of the world and many of the key gateway markets in Asia that we discuss in this paper, to a near standstill. It has been an almost domino effect, where the health crisis has led to an economic and financial crisis. However, out of crisis can emerge new and interesting opportunities, as can be seen in the GDP forecast for 2020 and 2021, with China and Hong Kong, in particular indicatively forecasting the widest jump of over 700 bps – a clear indication of economic growth potential and the opportunities that will come with it.