Hong Kong homes shrink as prices soar, and affordability goes out the window
In the past 12 months, new records were set with every project launch, as developers aim for first-time buyers who’ve basically given up hope of affording decent-size apartments
What does it feel like to live in 50 square feet, less than half the space of a parking lot?
That will be on offer at Chun Wo Property Development TPlus apartments in Tuen Mun, which will set the Hong Kong record -- and quite possibly a world first-- for Lilliputian-size apartments when they are completed in September 2018.
Sizes start from 128 sq ft in the 356-unit complex. After deducting the space set aside for a balcony, a toilet and an open kitchen, the owner will be left with 50 sq ft of living space, according to JLL’s managing director and head of capital market Joseph Tsang. Each of the 52 parking lots in the complex, at 134 square feet, will be larger than the apartment itself.
“It is tiny, but it’s hard to tell if there won’t be even smaller projects in future,” he said.
Apartments in Hong Kong, already the world’s least affordable major city when measured in per-square-foot price, are shrinking fast as prices keep soaring.
In the past 12 months, new records were set with every project launch, as developers aim for first-time buyers who’ve basically given up hope of affording larger apartments. Better own a shoebox, than rent a decent-size apartment forever, the thinking goes.
