Hong Kong expats and locals leaving the island, seeking flats in West Kowloon, real estate data shows
Driven out by high rents, expats and Westernised locals are increasingly looking for property in places such as Jordan and Tai Kok Tsui, and businesses are moving from Hong Kong Island too
Hong Kong Island residents often refer disparagingly to Kowloon as “the Dark Side”. If English-language property search data is any indication, however, more flat hunters – expatriate and local – have been turning their backs on the overpriced island in the past year. And it’s not just about the money: Kowloon is increasingly seen as more liveable.
There’s a commonly held notion among people living on Hong Kong Island that there’s a big barrier between the island and Kowloon, but there isn’t
Spacious recorded 550,000 residential property searches in the first half of 2015, growing to 900,000 in the second half. The percentage changes in search volume are adjusted to factor in the site’s growth, says Asif Ghafoor, founder and CEO of Spacious. Ghafoor suspects the migration is largely price driven, but suggests it could be compounded by other factors.
With property prices in the city overall reaching an all-time high towards the end of last year, “Hong Kong Island as a whole has become very unaffordable”, he says. “We have an affordability function on our platform that helps drive this point home. It shows that there are only a handful of areas you can live on Hong Kong Island making HK$50,000 a month without spending more than 50 per cent of your income on your apartment.”
Two such areas, which bucked the downward trend, have been relatively affordable by island standards. These are Kennedy Town, where 5 per cent more people were looking for accommodation, and Sai Wan Ho, which recorded 6.1 per cent more searches.
