The Hong Kong office rental market will remain bullish for the short-term, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) chairman David Faulkner.

Faulkner said: “The availability of commercial space for sale remains low, with wide differences in price expectations between buyers and sellers. Consequently, transaction volume is low, but when transactions take place, we are seeing an upward trend in prices.”

He predicted rentals for the second quarter will increase by almost +60% and capital value expectations are also expected to increase by approximately +80%.

Faulkner also warned of a growing rift between buyers and sellers as the latter are not under pressure to sell and can sit comfortably on their assets until they get the price they are looking for. He said: “The big problem is expectations between vendors and customers are limiting transaction activity.”

On the residential side, the value of home sales hit a nine-month high with Land Registry figures showing HK$53.3bn worth of residential units sold in April. That’s an increase of 69% from the year before.