What: Rents in three of Hong Kong’s prime shopping areas are near the lowest in more than a decade in the wake of 2019′s anti-government demonstrations and some of the world’s strictest Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Why it is important: While the city is in talks with Chinese officials about reopening their shared border, limited cross-border travel could resume as soon as the end of the year or in the first quarter of 2022. But rents are not expected to rebound quickly, but they may rise gradually.

Rents in three of the city’s prime shopping areas are near the lowest in more than a decade and owners are offering discounts of close to 80% from the peak about eight years ago in Hong Kong’s Russell Street, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield Plc. The strip in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island was ranked as the world’s most expensive for shop rentals until 2019, the last time that the firm released global numbers.

Shops that used to sell Swiss watches offer budget mobile phone gadgets after the 2019 anti-government demonstrations and some of the world’s strictest Covid-19 travel restrictions deterred China’s affluent travellers.

Prime shopping areas have been in chronic decline since late 2013, with pandemic-related travel restrictions dealing the latest blow. Rents at Causeway Bay’s premium shops fell by half in the third quarter from two years ago at the height of the protests, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s data.

As an example, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. rented a shop in Central for HKD 500,000 (USD 64,200) a month, 50% lower than the previous tenant, Hong Kong Economic Times reported last week.

World’s Most Expensive Retail Rents Tumble to Decade Low in Hong Kong