Hong Kong retail recovery rolls on for third month as July sales rise 1.8% A recent improvement in Hong Kong’s retail sector spilled into July, with sales rising by 1.8 per cent year on year in a sign that the industry had stabilised, the government said on Monday. According to the Census and Statistics Department, the increase marked the third month in a row of growth following 14 consecutive months of decline. The 1.8 per cent increase in retail sales, to HK$29.7 billion (US$3.8 billion), was bigger than the revised 0.7 per cent year-on-year rise in June. A government spokesman said that “local consumption sentiment should remain steady”. “The government’s proactive efforts in promoting tourism and mega-events will also benefit retail businesses,” he said. However, in the first seven months of the year, the total value of retail sales contracted by 2.6 per cent compared with the same period in 2024. Notably, the online segment accounted for 8.7 per cent of the total value of retail sales in July. The value of online retail sales in July, provisionally estimated at HK$2.6 billion, was up by 13.2 per cent compared with the same month in 2024. Online retail sales in June increased by a revised 13.1 per cent compared with a year earlier. For the first seven months of 2025, it was provisionally estimated that the value of online retail sales increased by 2.1 per cent compared with the same period in 2024. Despite the overall transformation in the retail industry and retailers’ calls for rent reductions, Hong Kong’s shops still command some of the highest rents globally. The rent of HK$1,333 per square foot for a shop in Mong Kok was “definitely the highest in Asia currently, and top three in the world, too,” said Rickey Chan Chi-po, managing director of local property agency Dorbo Realty, who helped broker the deal. The rent reached HK$200,000 per month for the snack shop measuring 150 sq ft in Mong Kok’s Tat Lee Commercial Building, opposite the Gala Place shopping centre, when the lease was renewed in August, Chan said. Another snack shop rented the same unit for HK$350,000 between 2010 and 2014. Veteran property investor Edwin Lee Kan-hing suggested that while the worst had passed, the recovery would be uneven. Lee, founder and chief executive of Bridgeway Prime Shop Fund Management, said that “stabilisation of the residential property market is the key” as it created a “wealth effect” that supported shop sale prices, which he expected to be “near the bottom”. However, rental values still faced some pressure, with potentially a further 2 to 5 per cent decline, as Hongkongers’ spending in mainland China continued and residential districts did not benefit as much as the core tourist areas, Lee said. Still, with continued tourism, major events such as the National Games, and the coming Christmas season, Lee said the atmosphere should improve, with more optimism in the second half of the year. Annie Tse Yau On-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, offered a cautious outlook despite the retail sales rise in July from the lowest point in July last year, highlighting several persistent challenges and future worries for the sector. “For mainland visitors, although their numbers are up, their spending power is still in a very sluggish state,” she said. “The increase in business does not match the increase in foot traffic.” She also noted that local spending remained under pressure. “The challenges of Hong Kong people travelling abroad and heading north still remained [in August],” she said. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3323919/hong-kong-retail-recovery-rolls-third-month-july-sales-rise-18?module=top_story&pgtype=section (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post