(Yicai Global) April 8 -- The number of empty residential properties in Hong Kong surged 17 percent last year from the year before to the highest level since statistics began in 2015, according to the latest figures.

Some 52,370 residences lay uninhabited as of the end of last year, accounting for 4.3 percent of the total such properties available, according to statistics released by the special administrative region’s rating and valuation department at the end of last month.

Hong Kong’s economy continues to take a battering as restrictions on business and commerce due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have not yet been fully lifted. The SAR’s unemployment rate has also risen to the highest level in 17 years, with 261,600 jobseekers between December 2020 and this February, according to government data.

There were a lot less people coming to view properties last year than in previous years, a number of local real estate agents said. There were significantly fewer students from the Chinese mainland looking to stay on in Hong Kong and thus needing places to stay. Many non-residents also left Hong Kong, leaving more apartments empty.

As a result, rents have dropped considerably, falling an average of 6.1 percent year on year.

Office buildings fared even worse. Non-occupancy rates in Grade A office space in the SAR’s central business districts surged 11.8 percent last year from the year before and rents slumped 10 percent on average. Sales of Grade A office space dropped dramatically by 12.2 percent.

Second and third-tier office space saw vacancies rise 11.9 percent and 9.4 percent and their selling prices fell 9.6 percent and 6.1 percent respectively.

House prices, though, only dipped very slightly by 0.5 percent year on year, the report said.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Kim Taylor