Weekends are when Stacy Wang makes the best of her new home. A native of Beijing, the 42-year-old moved with her young son to Kowloon, just over the water from Hong Kong Island, to join her husband, who was posted there by his mainland-based company. Together they arrange play dates in the Kowloon Cultural District, spending time in the park or visiting the science and space museums. Now that temperatures are milder, they hike up The Peak or walk around Upper Shing Mun Reservoir; her son loves the wild monkeys. Their rental building offers facilities she would not have had back home, including a pool, gym and clubhouse. And she is released from wider family obligations. “Here all we have to do is plan for the weekend,” she says.
Such draws are luring many mainland Chinese to Hong Kong. In the three years to June 2025, there were 206,000 net new arrivals to the special administrative region, which includes Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories; the largest group have been mainlanders arriving to work or study. The surge has driven up median rents by 16 per cent since mid-2022 to close to record levels, and tightened supply across the city. Mandarin is increasingly heard alongside local Cantonese, while many bars and restaurants are quieter as closer ties to the mainland encourage residents to travel north for cheaper shopping and eating. Today, most new arrivals still rent. If they settle and buy homes, Hong Kong’s sales market, where prices are 25 per cent below their 2021 peak, will receive a much-needed boost.
The recent influx follows an exodus that reshaped the housing market in Hong Kong. Roughly 170,000 more people left the city than arrived in the two years to June 2022, as the aftermath of the 2019 pro-democracy protests and a new national security law in June 2020 raised concerns about tightening political controls, curtailing civil liberties and Hong Kong’s future autonomy. Many were expatriates; many others were wealthy local families who sold homes. But since 2023 the flow has reversed.