Banks Buying Hong Kong Towers as Rents Fail to Ease: Real Estate
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Seeking to hedge against rising rents and a shortage of space, banks and insurers are on a record spree of buying office buildings in Hong Kong, where occupancy costs are the second-highest in the world.
Manulife Financial Corp., Canada’s biggest insurer, and Hang Seng Bank Ltd. this year bought office towers in the city, joining financial firms such as AIA Group Ltd. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. in spending more than HK$18.8 billion ($2.4 billion) on commercial properties from January 2012 to last month, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc. That’s the most for a 16-month period on record, the broker’s data show.