Hong Kong's retail sales by value fell by 3.2% in January from a year earlier, marking an 11th consecutive month of declines despite a surge in tourist numbers, government data showed on Monday.

And the office vacancy rate remained high at 12.8%. At the beginning of the year, the activity level in Hong Kong’s office market was high, despite the absence of major transactions thus far. According to a Knight Frank report,

Online sales accounted for 6.9% of the month’s total retail sales value. Hong Kong’s total retail sales for January, provisionally estimated at $35.3b, was 3.2% down month-on-month, according to the Census and Statistics Department.

City rings up HK$35.3 billion in sales in first month of year, helped in part by earlier arrival of Lunar New Year, according to government.