It’s really pretty “impossible” to buy property in Hong Kong that doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg. This is because property in Hong Kong is already the most expensive in the world and it does seem as if the price has no ceiling.
This is the case even for someone who’s earning HK$38,000 (RM20,175) per month. A friend said that even with her salary, there’s no way she can afford a home in Hong Kong.
After combining her income with her husband’s, and with a little help from her parents, she was able to afford an apartment that was less than 1,000 sq ft.
Here’s one hope for Hong Kongers who take home a lower pay packet than her – “stackable, retro-fitted water pipe tube homes called ‘O-Pods’.”
An article in businessinsider.my says that Hong Kong properties have been ranked the least affordable in the world for the last eight years.That revelation made Hong Kong architect James Law design a low-cost solution to the problem: stackable, retro-fitted water pipe “tube homes” called “O-Pods” that can be rented cheaply to young people.
“We are facing a tangible affordability problem in our cities,” architect James Law told Business Insider.
“It is almost beyond the reach of most people to afford to live in a proper home in Hong Kong.”
He added, “If we can work with governments, and even private landowners and manufacturers, we could very cheaply build the O-Pods, and we could rent them out very cheaply to young people who are struggling to afford housing.”
The size of the O-Pod is around 100 sq ft.
The reason that it is so cheap to build is because the O-Pod uses concrete water pipes, which are already mass-manufactured.
They are “low-cost, well-engineered, and being concrete, these pipes have good insulation properties.”
His plan is to rent out the O-Pods for HKD3,000 (RM1,592) per month. Two-thirds of that money would be invested in a savings account for the tenant, while one-third would go towards maintaining the homes.
The reason for suggesting HKD3,000 was because of the global rule of thumb that one-third of one’s income should go towards rent in order to consider housing to be affordable.
Most recent university graduates in Hong Kong earn an average salary of 14,000 HKD per month. After taxes, that comes to about 10,000 HKD. The full article can be found in businessinsider.my.
Malaysians are fortunate because our property market has not reached this stage. All the same, we should take note of what is happening is other parts of the world, as it’s just a matter of time before the same happens to us.
As for whether 100 sq ft is bad, well, if it’s for a single working professional who would usually use their home only for sleep and rest, it should be good enough.
This article first appeared in kopiandproperty.com
Charles Tan blogs at property investment site kopiandproperty. He dislikes property speculators and disagrees that renting is better than buying. He thinks it’s either property or poverty. He is presently the CEO of an auction house auctioning assets beyond just properties.