Modest apartments prove popular at 'one of the grandest' developments of the 1980s, despite age and distance from town centre

DESPITE ITS RELATIVE old age, City One the largest private housing estate in the New Territories town of Sha Tin remains a benchmark for prices for small- and medium-sized apartments in Hong Kong's first satellite town.

City One was one of the grandest projects built during the house-buying spree of the 1980s and houses more than 10,000 lower-middle class families. It was co-developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, Cheung Kong (Holdings), New World Development and Henderson Land.

According to Raymond Chan, Midland Realty senior district manager for Sha Tin, City One is the first name to spring to mind when thinking of Sha Tin property, in much the same way that Taikoo Shing typifies residential projects on Hong Kong Island and Whampoa Gardens represents Kowloon.

'Property prices at City One are an indicator of the small-medium sized apartments that make up a large portion of the market in Sha Tin,' said Mr Chan.

The development was completed over seven phases between 1981 and 1987 and contains 10,642 apartments.About 70 per cent of the units are less than 500 square feet in size. The biggest apartments have three bedrooms and measure 1,018 sq ft.

'Unlike now, at that time (during the 1980s when City One was constructed), people preferred smaller flats. Hence, plenty of the apartments were built at about 400 sqeft,' said Hero Yuen, senior manager at Centaline Property Agency's City One branch.